Bouncers and Booze
by Jude Morgenstern
Summary: Laxus is a bouncer with the unfortunate job of being on "Cana Patrol'. With an eccentric boss, an unreasonable charge and an unimaginable sequence of events how will our favourite thunder god fare? as always, read review and enjoy! rated m for later chapters, laxana main pairing, others will appear throughout
1. Chapter 1

a/n: I've wanted to do a laxana bar story for a long time now, it's going to be a pretty long series depending on how much time I have to update it. Please bear with me, I'm really excited even though this first chapter is pretty rough I think it has a lot of potential. So let's all have some fun! Read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail

Day 1

The three muscular men and rather serious looking woman stood before Mr Clive, arms folded behind their backs in a professional manner except for the blonde who stood a little in front of them, indicating his position.

"I trust from your outstanding reputation I have no need to remind you of the conditions in your contracts." Mr Clive said, staring at each of the famous Thunder God Tribe, their reputation that of efficiency and confidentiality. "It's important for you to keep in mind that this club is merely a front for my other businesses, so highly important people will most likely be attending the nightly festivities you will be supervising." Mr Clive continued in his rumbling tenor, arms crossed across his barrel chest, scars mingling on his exposed forearms. "It's paramount to deal with disturbances quickly and quietly, especially since more often than not the ones creating issues are my clients, which must be appeased at all costs." He said with a tone of finality, nodding to dismiss his new employees. First the brunette woman spun dramatically on her heels, hair swaying across her back as she strutted out the door. Next were the two men in matching suits, although one had a more reserved stature, his green hair a bright distraction in the dull room which was sheathed in timer furnishings, giving it a neutral comforting feel.

"Wait," Mr Clive barked as Laxus' hand enclosed around the door knob. He froze, turning to look at the middle aged man who seemed to radiate authority, something Laxus couldn't help but resent. "shut the door, I need to consult you about something that wasn't in your contract." He said cryptically, a pained scowl on his face until he forcefully corrected it. Laxus closed the door gently, facing his employer with his usual serious expression, his lips a cold line.

"Yes, sir?" Laxus asked, Gildarts request not uncommon among his previous employers. There was only one strange thing about this particular job; it's duration. Most bouncer jobs were either a few days because of an upcoming event or a year or over in order to establish a loyalty to the club which the Thunder God Tribe always managed to wriggle out of thanks to their manager. But this job was only for six months exactly or shorter, with no special preparation, although this may be the explanation they've been waiting for.

"There is a special job I would like you individually to take care of." He said, eyeing the young man suspiciously as he nodded in assent. "I have a special partner whom I have a long and extensive personal and business relationship with. His daughter is a frequent visitor to this establishment and it would be in my best interests if you would watch over her while she's here and ensure she gets home safely each night- preferably alone." Mr Clive said, leaning down to open a draw and rifle through copious amounts of papers. He closed the draw to open another and shuffle through more parchment. "It is vital that you conduct yourself in a professional manner at all times. Any information about her family is best left unknown, as well as any unwanted affiliations." Mr Clive said with a meaningful glance before continuing his search for an unknown object.

"Understood." He said gruffly, arms straight at his sides. This was turning out to be quite interesting, he couldn't help wondering the story behind this little arrangement. Mr Clive finally found what he had been searching for and slid a picture across the table.

"This is the woman you'll be looking after. She tends to stick near the bar and drinks an unnatural amount of alcohol but that isn't a problem. In the past she's had problems with being particularly weak to drugs, so watch for anyone offering a potentially spiked drink or anything equally suspicious." He said as he watched Laxus stare at the beautiful brunette woman smiling in the photo, a large weeping willow in the background, the sun shining through green leaves. Usually Laxus'd ask to keep a photo like this to identify the target but he'd never forget a face like that. "She isn't to be underestimated, she's quite unpredictable and tends to be overconfident in dangerous areas." Mr Clive continued though Laxus was only half listening, he was trying to conjure a memory forth from his small inkling of recognition of her brown eyes, something from a long long time ago.

"Is there any other information essential to the job?" Laxus asked, looking up to meet Mr Clive's eyes, unwilling to let his fascination become a public matter. He shook his head wearily, not taking his eyes off of Laxus in a patronizingly doubtful stare.

"Just remember I've known Cana since she was a little girl, so if any problems arise notify me immediately. After tonight we'll see how you manage it." He said, grinning smugly, something that took Laxus off guard. But he nodded nonetheless and exited the room quietly, recounting their conversation to his workmates, the image of the beautiful woman fresh in his mind.

"Introduce yourself to her when she shows up, she'll be expecting you." Mr Clive said quietly to Laxus as the club opened for business. Bixlow was posted at the door, Freed and Ever in the corners of the room and Laxus near the bar.

"Hello," a young white haired woman said, giving him a warm smile. "are you on Cana patrol?" she asked with a smile as if the idea was funny. He nodded in response, taking in her curvatious body as she clasped her hands together in her lap which suddenly flew to her mouth. "Oh I'm so sorry; I didn't even ask your name! I'm Mira, I work behind the bar." She gushed, eyes wide. He smirked; she was making this too easy.

"Laxus." He replied to her implied question, relaxing his shoulders as he prepared for yet another entertaining conversation. But the stunning woman seemed to only then realise it was opening time and gave a wave, dashing behind the bar, her black singlet top and shorts which cut off mid-thigh stuck to her body like a second skin. Laxus tried to watch her inconspicuously through his peripheral vision as he scanned the quickly growing crowd for the mysterious Cana. But alas all of his attention was captivated as for some unknown reason Mira was on all fours, searching for something on the floor until a black haired beauty, much younger picked up a bright green plastic object from the floor in the obvious direction- curse her. He glanced away, once again searching for the apparent phantom Cana until suddenly a barely clad brunette leaned over the bar, whispering in Mira's ear. That was obviously Laxus' cue to intervene, walking towards the pair, perhaps he could restart the conversation with the gorgeous woman who had become more and more interesting as the night progressed, perhaps it was more accurate to state he became more interested in her as the night progressed as she was by far the most beautiful woman in the joint. In a few moments he'd judge Cana's place in the scale, adopting Ever's rule on professionalism- you can think anything you want as long as you don't say it aloud or enact it, the rule had been pretty useful to Laxus over the years. Mira glanced in his direction, followed quickly by Cana's gaze. Her expression was blank until she broke into a wide grin, laughter spilling forth from her lips. Mira rolled her eyes and tended to her next patron while Cana clutched her stomach as she couldn't control her laughter. Laxus was obviously taken aback by her blatant laughter obviously directed at him. When he was within a metre of her she gasped frantically, trying to calm down enough in order to speak but as soon as she looked up another round of laughter took control. He raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed.

"What?" He asked, attempting to take on a neutral tone though it was becoming more and more difficult. At the sound of his voice she seemed to calm down as if the novelty had worn off.

"It speaks!" she announced, once again leaning forward over the bar to grab a bottle of beer without Mira noticing, little did Laxus know Mira noticed everything that happened at her bar.

"Do you think you should be doing that?" he asked gruffly, not sure if he should reprimand her for stealing grog. She looked up at him, staring at his face yet obviously calculating something else.

"It's fine, I know the owner." She said shrugging him off before turning back to look him over during which Laxus merely stood beside her patiently. She gestured to the stool beside her, reinforcing her request as his reluctance became evident. "Take up a seat muscle-man, we better get this over with otherwise it's gonna mess with my mojo." She said, grabbing another bottle after having quickly draining her first, though worryingly this bottle had 'VODCA' inscribed in large bold letters across the front. "So what's your name or should I call you muscle-man?" she asked, sipping the vodka hungrily. "MM would definitely a cool code name." she said, nodding to herself.

"My name is Laxus Dreyar, I'll be watching your back and taking you home for the next six months." He said in his usual monotone when addressing clients. She swivelled her head, incredulous.

"I-" she managed to say before Kinana grappled the bottle of vodka from her hands.

"Mira said you can't have whole bottles anymore." Kinana said quietly, obviously uncomfortable in having to confront the brunette. Cana frowned profusely before conceding the battle, nodding towards a tall glass which was obviously understood by Kinana. Laxus couldn't really be bothered with the drama's of drunk no matter how attractive she was. She turned back to him, deciding to switch her comment for another.

"Sorry about that," she said, sipping from her flask until her tall glass filled with what Laxus assumed to be a mix of vodka and bourbon from the smell, arrived before her. "anyway, when tonight's over would you mind if we had a little contest?" she asked innocently, though there was something serious about the ways her eyes searched his face that made him wary to answer quickly.

"What sort of contest?" he asked, squaring his shoulders unconsciously. It would be best to avoid all informal ties so if she proposed a drinking contest or the like which was common from people like her, an alcoholic with a history of indulging in drugs. But on the other hand he heavily doubted she would remember anything they agreed to if she continued to drink as she was, in fact the amount she had already consumed was enough to knock many of their feet. Maybe this was what Mr Clive was implying earlier that afternoon.

"A fight," she replied, waving her empty glass in the air for Mira to retrieve, giving him an apologetic look. 'Good luck' she mouthed from across the bar where she was mixing another drink for the obviously mentally unstable woman. "what's the point in the big guy spending money on you _protecting_ me if I could do a better job myself." She said dismissively, giving him a mischievous glance, challenging him with every fibre of her body. He wanted to accept, not because the idea of fighting a presumably hammered woman was enticing but he just wanted to wipe that smug look off her face. However Mr Clive had specifically said to be professional on all fronts. He was about to refuse when a hand clamped down on his shoulder. He tensed, ready for a fight but was relaxed by a familiar voice.

"Glad to see you two getting on like wildfire." Mr Clive said, eyes glued to Cana who treated him with disinterest. The man had just arrived at the right time, perhaps Laxus could persuade him to allow a contest between the two. "Did you say you'd fight her?" he asked, as if by this time in the conversation that request was a given.

"I don't think it would reflect well on the Thunder God Tribe if I accepted." He replied coolly, hoping to preserve some pride in this largely patronising situation. She was directly interfering with his job, he decided, her job was to have fun while he watched from the shadows, not this siting and talking like booze buddies. But instead of his answer preserving his dignity, no, laughter erupted from her lips once again as she stared at him.

"Seriously!? That's what your little gang's called?" she gasped, giggling uncontrollably. Laxus' lips pressed in a firm line and took in a deep breath. "Well you get points for originality." She said, giggling quietly as she waved her once again empty glass in the air. Mr Clive hid a smirk as he patted Laxus on the back heartily.

"Still want to decline?" he asked quietly enough for Cana to remain unknowing as her giggles once again overwhelmed her own ears. Laxus raised an eyebrow; did the old man want him to accept her offer? He replied to the silent question with a nod, perhaps this was a part of his initiation. He glanced at Cana, seizing her up as she gulped her concoction happily. Her glittering top which barely covered her chest and spangled mini skirt left very very little to the imagination. Although usually Laxus would have taken a good look at the curve of her back as she once again leaned over the bar, grinning, but with Mr Clive obviously watching him intently standing right beside him he quickly looked away. She wasn't muscular to the point of anything noticeable but she held the toned body of someone who knew how to throw a punch. Well with her usual hang out being one of the most famous clubs in the state, she'd need to know how to handle herself. Before he could muse on this more Cana turned to him once again, wide brown eyes challenging him once more.

"Fine." He said begrudgingly, hands tightening into fists. Cana grinned, giving him a clumsy thumbs up.

"I'll be looking forward to it." She said, her words slightly dismissive and as Mr Clive took his leave Laxus followed suit, pushing his way back to his point in the corner of the bar.

Hours droned on, Cana was approached by a swarm of people, all of which were slightly bizarre. However he did recognize a few from his high school days which was quite strange considering his record for remembering things like that. The blonde bombshell Lucy who always seemed to be shrouded in rumours though absolutely none of them were true… unfortunately. The idiots Fullbuster and Dragneel who were always getting suspended for some stupid plan gone wrong. Titania, the only woman he'd ever known to come close to his level. There were other faces he recognised that were nameless to him, yet he began piecing together what he could discover about Cana to remember her.

From what he remembered of her group none of them were of any harm to her, except if she was crazy enough to get caught up in one of their hair-brained schemes. Dragneel spilled beer on her a couple times though it seemed completely unintentional. Laxus couldn't help but smirk as she got riled up over the fifth time, so that's how many it took to break that easy going exterior. A small chuckle left his lips as her fist connected with his stomach in quite a painful manner which left him floundering on the ground. Fullbuster was also soon on the ground after a misdirected joke and judging from Mira's unflustered appearance this was the usual ending for the two poor males. Fulbuster was aided by a gorgeous blue haired woman, damn, beautiful women seemed to just appear out of nowhere in this joint, so distracting.

But eventually they left the club, floating out the exit while Cana stayed at the bar, obviously waiting for the club to empty before making her departure with Laxus by her side. When the lights came on, demystifying the once heated atmosphere, Cana stood, walking towards Laxus. She stumbled slightly then righted herself before meeting his now concerned eye.

"Ready for a beat down?" she asked, her tone revealing she wasn't nearly as hammered as she looked. Laxus crossed his arms as he listened to the rest of his team registering in with their completion codes.

"You're too drunk to fight me right now, maybe some other time." He said, looking down at her, her cleavage clearly visible. She pouted, widening her stance, her already tight skirt hitching slightly.

"I'm fine to fight now, unless you're afraid you'd get beaten by a woman whose just had more alcohol than you could manage in a week." She goaded, unimpressed with his lack of response. He rolled his eyes, shoulders tensing.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, shifting into a defensive position. She nodded in response, matching his pose. Before Freed could enquire why Laxus was fighting who he assumed to be his charge from across the room Cana struck out, winding Laxus by taking him by surprise with her uncanny strength. She grinned as she continued to make easy ground while Laxus refused to strike back. In frustration she continued to punch him, deliberately leaving herself open.

"Dammit hit her back!" Mr Clive yelled from his office's window. Laxus lowered his chin, swinging his right fist towards her torso which unfortunately was the exact thing Cana was waiting for. She jabbed up under his arm, using her size to her advantage her fist connected with the pressure point in his waist however when his body jerked away of its own accord Cana didn't have the time to avoid his hit which threw her backwards. She absorbed the impact in a roll turning back to face Laxus who was still quite shocked at the risk she'd been willing to take just to land a single punch.

"You win." She said, panting slightly as she straightened out. Laxus scowled, this entire night had been an experience he wished he could forget. He just knew that it was going to be one of _those_ jobs. Her expectant eyes were glued to him so he grunted in admission, relaxing his stance. If it was anyone else he'd insist otherwise but he just wanted to get this entire night over with. He glanced at his three friends who seemed a little taken aback with the whole situation. Freed raised an eyebrow, his question obvious. He ignored his probing gaze for the meantime and waited for some indication of Cana's next move, being a personal body guard took a substantial amount of patience which Laxus liked to think he had if he was getting enough money for it.

"Satisfied?" he asked, unable to control his annoyed tone. Her eyes narrowed, not happy with his obvious condescension, it was always the same with rich peoples kids.

"Sorry if I embarrassed you by asking you to prove your stars, oh wait, aren't you supposed to be able to do that?" she asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes, the fight burning off most of the alcohol. He ground his teeth, Mr Clive's words about professionalism flashing in his ears. But his instructions were practically null and void after this little stunt, where was his voice of reason when she tried to punch the living daylights out of him? He was supporting the god damned fight for heaven's sake, no wonder he had a reputation as a bit of a strange one.

"Ready to leave?" he asked curtly, glancing at his watch, it read 2am. She shrugged, walking quickly back to the bar to once again lean forward, giving Mira a quick kiss on the cheek which she returned.

"See you tomorrow night Mira," she said, rubbing her stomach slightly, Laxus' punch obviously more potent than she was letting on. "wish me luck!" she requested with bright eyes. Mira smiled, her head tilting to the side in the most adorable way. If only he got to walk her home instead of Miss Psycho.

"Good luck!" she said, she seemed so enthusiastic that vibes were radiating from her beaming face. Cana chuckled, walking towards the exit, it was a few moments before Laxus realised he was supposed to follow. He spared a glance to Freed and Bixlow who were chuckling as Ever slapped them over the head. He just knew they were making a joke about him; seven years out of high school had done nothing to tame their immaturity. He followed a few steps behind until Cana paused, making him fall in step beside her. The now generally deserted streets were lit by dodgy lamps, flickering inconsistently, the light playing on Cana's face, giving her a ghost like quality.

"I'm sorry about before," she said expectantly, keeping her eyes forward. Laxus was confused to say the least, how many different personalities does this girl have? "I'm just sick of my Dad forcing me to be watched all the time like I'm a kid." She continued, not surprised by his lack of response. "I know it sounds really juvenile, throwing a tantrum then complaining how I don't want to be treated like a kid." She said chuckling, rubbing her stomach once more. "You sure can throw a punch." She said, offering a rare compliment. Finally he let the smirk creep over his lips, finally starting to understand her- she was embarrassed by having a babysitter, she just had a strange way of showing it which wasn't that strange once you thought about it.

"I know." He said, flexing his pectorals, the light black t-shirt clinging to him. She laughed, pulling the elastic band from her hair, long wavy brunette hair cascading down around her. A comfortable silence grew between them as Cana took turn after turn. After a while Laxus asked a simple question, hoping for a simple answer although not completely sure what to expect at this point. "Do you always fight your guards?" he asked, eyes flickering from alley to alley as his training had taught him. Cana chuckled, bumping her shoulder against his arm in a vote of confidence.

"Yeah, kinda." She said, guilt seeping into her voice. "I hate the idea of having someone protect me that is more inept than me." She replied, keeping her line of sight straight ahead until her gaze finally locked onto an apartment building to the far left. "Well thanks for the lift MM, I'll be looking forward to tomorrow night!" she called over her shoulder, chuckling to herself before disappearing into the elevator.

Laxus shook his head to clear his mishmash of thoughts pooling around her inexplicable eyes. He just had to get through the next six months, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be as easy as it sounded.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: hey guys, I really want to finish this series off so I decided to write a couple of chapters to get my brain going before exams (wish me luck).

I'm taking requests for oneshots so don't be shy

Anyways read, review and enjoy!

Jude

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail

OOO

Day 5

Laxus stood in his corner, watching on in confusion as Cana drank can after can of Coke, not even bothering with the buffet of alcoholic beverages. She seemed unimpressed by the soft drink but continued to sip despite her distaste. Eventually her gaze rose from her glare inspiring can to her body guard, tilting her head to the side. Laxus didn't know how to respond, if he was off duty he'd tilt his head back, beckoning her to him, but she was his charge and judging from last four last nights she was far too crazy to be the fun kind. Despite his lack of response she slipped off her chair and walked straight towards him. He looked away, attempting to disinterest her but it was too late for that.

"Hey muscle man," she said with a grin, pulling a stool towards him, but instead of sitting on it she grasped his arm, pulling herself on top of the metal surface to stand just a head taller than him. He considered looking up at her but her chest was dangerously close to his face as it was.

"What are you doing?" he asked, trying not to let the frustration seep through his voice. Cana swayed her hips, bumping his arm jokingly.

"I was just wondering what it's like to be as tall as you." She replied, leaning down so her face was next to his. "Now that I'm up here it's definitely overrated." She said with a laugh, her cheek bumping his. Laxus ignored her, scanning the crowd for disturbances which had the opposite of the intended effect, annoying her to action. Wrapping her arms around his shoulders she leaned all of her weight onto him. "Help me down." She ordered, throwing herself onto him. Almost unbalanced, Laxus quickly grasped her waist, unintentionally noticing her womanly curves as she slid down his body, releasing her as soon as she hit the ground. Ignoring her face staring up at him, he once again turned back to the crowd. "You're too serious muscle man, what are you even looking at?" she demanded, staring him down. Laxus couldn't help but rolling his eyes as he looked down at her.

"Get back up on the stool and I'll show you." He said, offering his hand as she limbered up onto the stool, setting her eyes at the same level as his, her breasts purposefully rubbing against his shoulder.

"I'm looking for people who could turn violent or cause some kind of a problem." He said, sweeping the crowd for an example.

"How?" she asked following his line of sight, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Luckily Laxus spotted the problem before Freed could intercept it.

"See the guy in the blue shirt dancing with the girl in the red dress near the bathrooms?" he said, motioning towards the pair. Cana stared out into the crowd until she finally found them.

"Yeah, what about them?" she asked, they seemed pretty normal to her.

"See how she's uncomfortable with how handsy he is? He might not, but if he steps it up a notch she'll tell him to back off. He either will or won't, and if he doesn't, that's where we swoop in to the rescue." Laxus explained, bringing his radio to his lips. "Freed, you got the pair near the bathroom?" he asked, clicking the receiver as he saw Freed look towards them and raise his black contraption to his lips from across the room.

"Yes, I'll take care of it." Freed said, his stare landing on the couple.

"Are you sure you're not just making this stuff up? They look perfectly fine to me.." Cana began as she watched the man pinch the woman's ass which made her pause and turn towards him. An argument evolved between the two until the man grasped her wrist in what seemed to be a painful grip. "Bastard!" Cana exclaimed, her mouth opening in shock. But to her relief Freed was there with a comforting hand on her shoulder, solving the situation. Laxus smirked slightly at the look of awe on her face.

"How did you do that with so many people here?" she asked, her questioning eyes turning to him between glances around the room. Laxus shrugged, turning back to the crowd.

"This place is actually pretty small compared to most raves and concerts we've worked, plus the crowd is pretty vanilla." He commented, not meeting her eye as she followed his gaze.

"Vanilla? This is one of the most popular spots in Sydney!" she retorted.

"Yeah, the Boss' zero tolerance policy on drugs means you don't have anyone spiking drinks, or party girls on ecstasy looking for a good time." He explained, motioning to the group of friends that had approached her last night, making their way into the club. "Plus everyone here knows everyone else, other than a handful of people. No one wants their friends remembering how they got naked in the middle of the club and got banned for life."

"Actually, Gray did that a few times and he only got kicked out for the night. Would you like to try? I heard that it's quite freeing." Cana teased, trying to find a problematic dancer before he could.

"I tried it once, all I was freed of was my dignity and my Facebook account." He said, chuckling to himself, not caring if she heard him or not, conversation wasn't really his strong point.

"Thank god, I was beginning to think you might be some kind of defective terminator sent from the future." She joked, her laughter vibrating against his back.

"Funny." He said sarcastically, glancing over at her, noticing her appearance for the first time, the tight mini shorts and bright red boob tube that was the same shade as her stunning red lipstick. Her eyelashes laden with mascara only highlighted her large brown eyes rimmed with quicksilver eye shadow. Laxus swallowed hard, as his eyes went southward until her smirk snapped him out of his train of thought, or lack of.

"I like to think so." She said licking her lips suggestively.

"Anyway, from what I saw yesterday you prefer the bar to the dance floor, why the change of drink?" he asked, relieved that her seductive advances ceased, replaced by an irritated pout.

"I made a bet that I could go the night without a drink to prove I'm not an alcoholic, just a booze lovin' gal." she said, turning to him with a look of expectation.

"Why bother? You don't seem the type to care what others think." He replied, aiming to keep the conversation away from either of them getting naked.

"Well aren't you full of assumptions today." She said pointedly, leaning in closer to get a better look at his face which made him increasingly uncomfortable. "Gildy said if I can go the whole night without a drink he'll wipe my tab." She admitted, defeated.

"I'm guessing that it's a lot?" he asked with a smirk, even the ridiculous Cana Alberona still had to pay her bills.

"Yes, and I'd rather not have to pay it right now, I've got a lot of things going on at work right now without having to fork out a couple grand." She replied dismissively, turning her attention back to the crowd. Laxus knew he shouldn't keep talking but he incredibly curious about what kind of job she had. There weren't any jobs he knew of where they paid you to be drunk. She was a rich kid so maybe daddy got her a nice desk job where it didn't matter if she had a few too many on the job. Still, she didn't seem the type to be spoon fed an easy life.

"No, I'm not a stripper." Cana said, laughing at her own joke while Laxus floundered. "I run a stock trading company in town, and my partner just went on holiday leaving all the paperwork to me with these inspector assholes breathing down my neck in a bad way." She explained, winking at him as she jumped off the chair to grab her now warm coke, taking a sip she sat back on her seat. Before Cana could continue their rather one-sided conversation Laxus frowned, moving off towards a pair at the bar.

"I'll be back in a minute." He said, quickly managing the situation by approaching the two men and asking them to cease to which they quickly complied, shuffling back onto the dance floor. When he returned to Cana she applauded his efforts, offering him a can of coke she had bought for him, although when he thought about it, she was only really putting it on her tab that in a few hours would be cleared by Clive. He took the can begrudgingly, glancing up to Mr Clive's window that was firmly closed.

"That was impressive muscle man, none of the other body guards were ever so… efficient. You must be pretty sought after? This can't be the only gig you've got?" she fished, lightly poking his upper arm.

"We just finished going on tour after tour for the past year and a half so we decided it was time to get a steady gig." He replied, taking a reluctant sip of his coke.

"Going on tour must have been fun. Going all over the world with musicians and celebrities, beats sitting at a desk all day." She said, taking another sip of her coke.

"Not really, it's usually a bunch of hormonal girls trying to battle their way towards some drugged up man with tight pants." He said before raising the radio to his lips. "Ever, the woman at the bar is too drunk, check her." He said, watching as Ever made her way through the crowd and exchanged a few words before returning to her post.

"She's just a light weight, she's clean." A crackly voice replied through the box.

"A bunch of hormonal girls can still be fun." She retorted, chuckling.

"Not when you're standing between them and their idol." He replied. "Besides, you never know where groupies have been." He implied, giving her a meaningful glance. Cana laughed, taking another sip of her Coke.

"Why don't you go have fun with your friends?' he asked, nodding over to her friends, one of which was beckoning her over.

"If I go over there I'll want to drink, plus you're much more entertaining." She said with a grin, bumping her shoulder against his hip.

"You know, you should not drink more often." Laxus said, but he instantly regretted it as that flirtatious glint came back in her eye.

"You'll have to do better than that muscle man if you want to get in my pants." Cana smirked, getting to her feet and with a final wink she walked into the crowd.

OOO

"Good night muscle man." Cana said, standing a little too close for comfort.

"Laxus." He grunted, putting his hands in his pockets. Cana grinned, reaching up to plant a kiss on his cheek. Laxus took an unconscious step back, she had crossed the line between harmless flirting and professionalism, and it had only been the fifth night. Before Laxus could get out a word, Cana cut him off.

"Fine Laxus, don't get so strung up on a kiss on the cheek, it was just a thankyou for tonight." Cana said in mock exasperation, walking up the steps to her apartment with a sway to her hips.

"Good night." He called out after her, not seeing her smirk as she swaggered into the elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: hey guys, I have a soft spot for this story. I'm hoping to show them growing closer over a long period of time thus the day counter. Of course by the time 175 days come around, they should be together. I hope you like the banter, this chapter and the next few are kinda pushing them together through Cana having a problem which changes her perspective a lot and shows the limits of her personality more clearly to Laxus. Anyways, as always read review and enjoy!

Disclaimer- I do not own fairy tail

Day 8

Cana sat slumped at the bar, slowly sipping her standard concoction as misery exuded from every pore. Laxus tried focussing on his primary job, but it was a slow night with only a handful of outsiders, most of which seemed to be content with having a good time and so his eyes kept wandering back to her exposed back and thick chocolate brown hair hiding her face. His gaze met Mira's worried one several times but no gestures of recognition were shared.

Laxus wondered to himself whether this was a natural phenomenon. He'd only known her for about a week and in that time she was always unnaturally energetic, maybe this was just her come down- Clive had mentioned her weakness to drugs… but if that was the case why would Mira be so worried? No, something was wrong. He couldn't go and ask, and none of her friends had shown up tonight so there was no chance of her demeanour improving. Maybe he should ask Mira? No, that would send the wrong messages, besides if Cana thought he was worried about her who knows how she would react? That was a lie, he knew exactly how she would react- infuriating unending taunts.

Mira gestured for him to come over to where Cana was slumped in front of her. Laxus paused, but Mira just waved at him more aggressively until he finally gave in and reluctantly wandered towards them, hoping Mira would change her mind but her determined stare refused to free him. Laxus stood next to Cana in his standard black tight fitting clothing, while Cana wore an uncharacteristic thin white blouse and tight navy slacks, which Laxus realised must be her work attire that she hadn't bothered to change out of. Laxus remembered her saying that her partner left a lot of paper work to her and something about inspectors. Surely paper work wasn't the cause of her slump? How bad could it have been? Cana didn't even bother to look up, he found himself missing her attention in the way you miss a rival, the world always seems that much less interesting.

"I thought I should let you know that things are about to get a little bit wild." Mira said over the music which caused Cana to freeze and look up from her drink for the first time all night.

"Please tell me you didn't call _them_…" She demanded, rage colouring her tone as her slump turned into a tense bundle of shock.

"I didn't call… I texted them." Mira defended, smiling at her own joke. Laxus waited for an explanation but realised he was never going to get one and may well soon be preoccupied breaking up a fight between Mira and Cana.

"Did I ask you to do that?" Cana snapped, trying to glare Mira down but she was just as stubborn.

"I am responsible for my patrons having a good time and to be honest you're being a major buzz kill!" Mira snapped back, handing a drink to a nearby party goer and completely ignoring Laxus' shocked expression.

"Well sorry for ruining the mood! I'll just go somewhere else and drink my sorrows away!" Cana snapped, getting to her feet but Mira grasped her arm.

"Cana! They'll all be here soon- are you seriously just going to leave when they've all come to cheer you up!" Mira reasoned, in what Laxus thought was an appeal but soon realised she was just stalling as Lucy tackle hugged Cana, forcing her to take a step back and nearly knocking Laxus into a bunch of glitter clad young women.

"Cana!" called a bunch of people, most of which he didn't recognise but he knew a large quantity of them weren't in her usual group of friends. Cana let out a gargantuan sigh as she was passed around the group, getting jumped on, her back thumped, hair ruffled and hand clasped. Laxus quickly made his way back to his designated (safe) corner and took in the group of approximately thirty people of what appeared to be all walks of life, all wanting a piece of Cana. Lucy and another short blue haired woman ushered Cana into the bathroom and when she emerged, her slacks were cut into slightly uneven mini shorts, blouse rolled and knotted to expose nearly everything it had covered before, the frilly black lace of her bra framing her cleavage. Her makeup was obviously a lot more rushed then her usual almost professional look but the bright red lipstick and thick mascara were framed nicely by her thick brunet locks.

He had little time to appreciate the sight of Cana contemptuously glaring at Mira as her friends dragged her out into the mosh pit, a bunch people grinding around her because just as Mira had warned, things began to get wild fast- there was punch ups, cat fights, at one point Fullbuster's girlfriend punched Dragneel in the face because Dragneel was shoved by some large white haired man causing him to headbutt Fullbister's nose, splattering it across his face, blood leaking on the floor which Erza slipped on, which she thought was Dragneel pushing her… all of it was just one huge confused mess but everything was dismissed with a change of song, ready for the next disaster.

After the third catastrophe Laxus joined Cana in glaring at Mira who had brought this onslaught of stupidity down upon him. But when he looked out to find Cana before the club began shutting down, he saw her grinning like usual as she danced without inhibitions, hips swaying and hair whipping out like tendrils around her. A moment passed and suddenly Cana was being reluctantly dragged towards the bar which seemed strange until she was forced up onto the bar and the music suddenly stopped, the silence odd compared to the buzz in the club.

"Now we have a special request from our lovely server Mira for the last song of the night- I hope you fellas and ladies out there pay close attention to the gorgeous ladies of FAIRY TAIL CLUB!" the DJ announced as Cana, Mira and five other women all stood on the bar, waiting for a familiar song to ring out. As soon as it started they all began what must have been a rehearsed routine, though the alcohol in their system made sure they were always slightly out of sync. When time came to point out their 'favourite man' Cana pointed to Laxus, giving him a playful wink while continuing their dance, the entire club entranced with the seven beauties. When the song finally came to an end, each of the women panting, sweat pouring off them, the club was filled with hollers and cat calls. Each of the girls were helped down by men assumed to be their boyfriends, leaving Mira and Cana atop the bar, hugging and laughing as people began to file out of the club. When the coast was clear Freed reached out a hand to Mira which she accepted, leaving Laxus to brace himself as Cana drunkenly jumped off the bar onto him, grabbing her just in time while struggling to keep balance. Cana continued to laugh as Laxus carefully set her down. When Cana finally calmed herself she reached out and gave Mira a quick hug.

"Thanks, Mira. Sorry I was being such a bitch earlier…" Cana said, the cheer draining out of her voice as she pulled back to peck Mira on the cheek. Mira rolled her eyes, returning the kiss on the cheek.

"Don't worry about it, I figure I owe you one, or two…" Mira said with a shrug. "But don't get any ideas! I expect you at full throttle tomorrow! If I have to call in the gang tomorrow Gildarts might actually fire me this time." She said with a worried look.

"As if I'd let him!" Cana declared, diving in for one last hug, reaching behind Mira to grab a half empty Vodka bottle and quickly making her way to the door, not bothering to check if Laxus was behind her or if Mira would make a vain attempt to get the bottle back.

OOO

Cana walked a lot slower than her usual saunter as she gulped down the vodka, the bottle blocking her view of the path. Laxus felt slightly awkward as Cana usually filled the silence with jokes, flirting, anecdotes or endless questions- silence seemed wrong. He was surprised how easily he had gotten used to her- everything. He wanted to ask a question to alleviate the tension, which she obviously didn't feel as she continued to chug. But, talking wasn't his thing, never had been, never would be…

"You're friends are pretty intense." Laxus offered, annoyed at her lack of any kind of response. "I haven't seen most of them around before." He continued, irritated that he had been forced into her role.

"They're more like family." She replied surprisingly, her words slightly slurred as she tossed her empty bottle on to the grass. Laxus didn't bother chastising her, he was more concerned with Clive's warning to stay away from her family.

"What did Mira mean by her owing you one?" Laxus asked, changing the subject. Cana looked up at him, surprised he had caught the exchange.

"Well, I got Guildy to hire her, and I gave her brother and sister jobs at my firm. They were there tonight- the big guy with the white hair and the cute girl that looks like Mira except with a bigger rack." Cana said seriously, causing Laxus to give a brief chuckle of shock at her comment. "I'm serious! Those things are massive!" she said, clutching her own chest for effect. Laxus looked away, knowing the trap of looking at her chest, at least when she was paying attention.

"He seems a bit out of place for a stock broker." Laxus commented, glad her hands were now swinging by her side.

"Mmm, he used to work at the local gym but it got closed for renovations after the big storm last year and he had nowhere to go so we took him on as an assistant. He's actually pretty good with people and he decided to stay after the gym reopened. His sister Lisanna is an intern though, she's pretty talented." Cana said thoughtfully, "Bacchus and I would love to hire her after her internship but it would be better for her to go over to Hibiki's firm, he'd be a fool not to take her." She concluded, looking up for a sign of understanding from Laxus.

"Who's Bacchus?" Laxus asked, the first time she'd mentioned him.

"Oh, Bacchus is my business partner. We own the firm 50/50. He's the asshole who's on holiday and has left me to handle this whole mess with the inspectors and…" Cana said, her countenance picking up steam as she spoke about him.

"Is that…" Laxus began to ask but stopped himself. Cana filled in the blanks and considered the question for a few moments.

"Yes and no… we had an inspection to make sure all our finances were in check. They are scheduled for the same time each year so Bacchus pissed off so he wouldn't have to deal with it." She said, venom in her voice. "Usually there's some discrepancy, we have a lot of money going in and coming out and there is always some margin of error, and the inspectors act as a second pair of eyes to go over everything, and as long as you're within the acceptable limits and the major problems can be fixed then it's ok." Cana explained. "Usually we do pretty well, Bacchus takes care of the clients and I do most of the brokering and the rest of the staff handles most of the paperwork which is all looked over by both of us each week. It's a pretty good system." Cana said, slight traces of pride breaking through her disappointed tone.

"So what happened?" Laxus asked, pressing for an answer as he knew they were nearing her apartment.

"There was a massive discrepancy, $8450 had gone missing." Cana said, her hands clenching and unclenching. "The investigators didn't say anything until they found the culprit which was easy because of our documentation system and that it had only been going on for a few months." Cana said, shocking Laxus into silence, noticing how she had memorised the exact number.

"Shit." Laxus exclaimed, slowing his pace to draw out their talk.

"Yeah, shit is right." Cana replied, "They arrested her right in the office in front of everyone." She said, taking a deep breath as if to sigh but keeping it in her lungs for a moment, like a support structure.

"Why'd she do it?" Laxus asked, considering putting a comforting arm around her shoulders but he knew he wouldn't be able to pull it off- would it be awkward? Would she shrug him off? Why was he even thinking about it?

"Apparently her father had gambling debts," she answered, a crease forming between her brows in concentration "but what I don't understand is why she didn't just ask for help. We've given advance pay and set up accounts for friends when they were in trouble before. If she had just asked for help she wouldn't be in this position right now. And now I have to organise for a lawyer for her and Bacchus says he can't come back until his holiday is over in pretty much a month…." Cana rambled, more to herself than Laxus. "And tomorrow I have to meet with Hibiki to try and work this whole thing out…" Cana said, stopping outside her building but staying next to Laxus, too absorbed in her own thoughts.

"Why do you have to get her a lawyer?" Laxus asked, not totally understanding the situation.

"Because she's my responsibility." Cana said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What, like legally? I'm pretty sure when someone embezzles over eight grand from you're company they stop being you're responsibility." Laxus replied, matching her tone.

"She's a friend who did something desperate because she was in an impossible situation and now she needs my help, so yes she's my responsibility." Cana replied icily. Laxus considered arguing but it hit him that this wasn't any of his business, and so he relaxed his expression and took a deep breath before taking a small step back.

"I suppose you could see it that way… Goodnight Cana, I'll see you tomorrow." Laxus said with a dismissive nod before walking away back towards the club where he'd parked his car.

Cana did something she hadn't done before, she stood outside her building, watching as he walked away.

He always seemed to be like a stationary constant, in his corner at the club, right beside her on the walk home. To see him walking away seemed unnatural.

She shook her head, hoping to clear it but the stresses of the days to come overtook her.

OOO

She showered, dressed in her most comfortable pyjamas, had a soothing cup of tea but no matter what she did her mind kept buzzing until finally she reached for her phone, scrolling through her contacts until finally she landed on the one she had been obsessing over. Reluctantly she pushed call and held the phone to her ear.

"What…" a sleepy male voice asked.

"Bacchus… this whole thing is freaking me out, are you sure you can't come back early?" she asked, her voice quieter than she would have asked.

"Doll, I told ya, I can't just come back. It'll be fine, Hibiki and Jenny will help you out…" he replied in his typical drunken droll. She heard a female voice questioning him in the background which wasn't surprising. "If you're so worried about it, take Elfman over there." Bacchus said with a chuckle.

"Oh yes, this is so funny- it's only our professional reputation and a friends life on the line." Cana snapped which woke Bacchus up.

"Look, she was smart enough to take from the company account instead of a client so we should be fine on that front and she didn't take that much, with a good lawyer she'll probably only get a few months in goal. She's a big girl who made her own choices." Bacchus reasoned in a pragmatic tone which he usually only used on clients who was unsure about a purchase. When she didn't reply after a few moments of ragged breathing he continued. "Look doll, I'll keep my phone on me all day, call me after you've met with Hibiki and we can work something out together." He said, hoping to calm her down enough that he'd be able to hang up and get back to sleep without waking to angry voice mails.

"Ok…. Thanks Bacchus." Cana said quietly, hanging up and putting her phone on her bedside table, hoping to get a couple hours of rest before her meeting.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: As always, read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail

Day 9

"Hey Cana, you don't look so good…" Hibiki said, stepping forward to grasp her arm in concern, a crease forming between his brows, contrasting his creaseless suit. Cana tried they usual trick of looking up through her eyelashes but this time Hibiki didn't seem to notice, his focus on the dark purple bags beneath her eyes and pasty skin.

"Is that how you speak to a lady Hibiki? If you're not careful people might start mistaking you for Bacchus." Cana said with a smirk, knowing there were few things that could get under his skin like being compared to Bacchus- Hibiki has been quoted calling Bacchus a 'drunken unmannered brute whose life is based on the satisfaction of animalistic urges'.

"You know what I meant." Hibiki replied with an irritated tone but refused to snap, gentlemen don't snap at lades. "What's happened? Jenny said something about embezzlement?" Hibiki asked, the concern plain on his face. Cana knew he was genuinely worried for her but still she wondered if he practiced his 'concerned' face in the mirror as Bacchus had once informed her. Cana took a seat next to him, leaning forward whilst never breaking eye contact, watching with satisfaction as his eyes quickly darted to her chest before meeting her gaze.

"This must stay between the two of us." She said, leaning forward just a smidge closer, causing him swallow hard before nodding assent. "An employee of mine embezzled $8450 over two months from the company's fund." Cana, watching as Hibiki's eyes widened before narrowing again as his brows knotted together. "Soon all of this will become public, we'll lose a bit of face but we should be able to recover." Cana said, glancing at her hands before staring deep into his eyes- Bacchus liked to think he was the people person but right now she knew she had Hibiki's every heartbeat wrapped around her fingers. "I have two problems, both of which I'm hoping you can help me with." She continued, waiting for him to nod. "You know how we run our business- Bacchus handles the clients- but because of complicated circumstances he can't be back for another month and there isn't anyone at our firm with enough experience to handle the clients for the period ahead, so I was hoping for a recommendation for a substitute." She asked, brows furrowed as if she was nervous and allowing the relief to wash over her face as he answered.

"Of course! Of course! I can email you a list of candidates by the end of the day." Hibiki assured her, reaching out to grasp her hands. "Even though we're competitors we've always been good to each other- I'm glad you came to me with this." Hibiki said with a smile, giving her hands a brief squeeze. Cana returned the smile- now on to the difficult part.

"The other thing is… the woman who embezzled the money… I want to help her get a good lawyer, do you have anyone you could refer me to?" she asked, getting the last part as quickly as possible. Her disdain grew as Hibiki let go of her hands and leant back in his chair, staring at her in confusion.

"You want to pay for a lawyer for the woman who stole from you?"

OOO

"So? How did it go?" Bacchus' deep drunken voice rumbled from her phone, the background noise swarmed with music and yelling and singing and something breaking.

"He said he'd help, he's sending an email tonight. I'll forward it as soon as I get it." Cana replied and Bacchus grunted his approval. Cana took a deep breath, preparing herself for the battle she knew was about to break out, hoping the park scenery would help calm her. "Look, I know this sucks but I really need your help right now. When his recommendations come through, can I call you and we can go through them together, and set up the prep together then I think I can handle it from there until you get back." Cana said, scrunching her eyes shut as she waited for his objection which didn't come, as silence began to drag on she was afraid he hadn't heard her and dreaded the idea of having to repeat her request.

"Fine, I guess it can't be helped…" Bacchus slurred, obvious unhappy but willing. "But after this no more midnight phone calls! It's bad enough having to put up with my family, but without getting any sleep?!" Bacchus snapped. Cana was so tired and relieved she nodded, forgetting that he couldn't see her gesture through the phone.

"Alright, I'll call you at 8pm my time." She said, grinning with relief.

Now all that was left to check in on the gaol bird and then she could get some glorious sleep.

OOO

Laxus stood in his corner, three hours since opening and Cana still hadn't arrived, each minute making him more anxious. From what he gathered Cana came to the bar every day unless she was severely ill, she had told him the last time she wasn't at the bar she had tripped over a phone cord at her work and was in the hospital with a concussion, and the time before that her brother threw a can of beer at her head as a joke but she didn't duck in time and chipped her front tooth, she even pulled back her lip to make sure he got a good look at the scars in her mouth. He hoped that the mess with her work wasn't so severe she'd ended up in the hospital- surely if she was able bodied, no matter the outcome, she'd find her way to the bar.

The hours slowly crawled on, he was surprised at how bored he was without Cana's antics. He remembered a couple of days ago she'd asked him to hold her drink, at first he'd told her to go back to the bar but she was adamant so he gave in and held it, and before he could object she pulled out her phone and took a photo which she then sent to Mr Clive with the caption 'drinking on the job', he knew this because she showed him his reply- 'any sane person would need a few of those to put up with you'- as she complained about how rude he was. No matter how much time went by, he couldn't help searching the crowd for her, hoping for a respite from the monotony.

Alas, the end of the night came and there was no Cana to walk home. When the final clubber left and the lights were turned on, the DJ packing up his laptop and gear, Mira and her barmaid counterpart who Laxus still hadn't found the name of, though even if he had he probably wouldn't have remembered it were cleaning down the bar and he couldn't hold in his anxious curiosity anymore.

"Hey Mira, where's Cana?" Laxus asked, but as soon as Mira's smug smirk curved her lips he regretted it, remembering why he didn't ask earlier in the night.

"I don't know, she texted me this afternoon saying she wouldn't be coming tonight, and maybe tomorrow night but she didn't say why." She replied, but it sounded suspicious- could she be hiding some kind of illness? Was she so depressed she decided to drink at home? Laxus had also heard the story of how she'd gotten her stomach pumped once and vowed to never go through it again. "I'm a little worried about her, I'm going to check in on her tonight if you want to come?" Mira asked and bright red lights began flash before his eyes- Abort! Abort!

"Nah, if you're going to check up on her then I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about." He replied quickly, hands in front of him in a defensive stance.

"It's sweet that you're worried about her-"

"That's not what I said-" Laxus tried to cut her off but she just kept talking over the top of him.

"I'm sure it would be best for you to come with me. Plus, there was this creep who said he would follow me home and murder me and I'd feel so much safer if you walked me home- and Cana and I live in the same building so it would be like hitting two birds with one stone." Mira said, beaming up at him. He was 100% sure that the threat was completely fictional but he couldn't think of a way to reject her offer without sounding like an asshole. Mira interpreted his silence as acceptance and returned to her work.

"I should be done in about half an hour, I'll meet you out the front." Mira called as she walked into the store room. Defeated, Laxus sighed as he went outside to say goodbye to his friends and before he knew it Mira was standing beside him, warm winter coat covering all previously exposed skin except her ghostly white face.

"So, how are you finding Cana patrol?" Mira asked, smiling at her own joke as she waited for a reply. Laxus considered his answer carefully before replying.

"Challenging." He said causing Mira to laugh, hand clutching at her cheek. Laxus wanted to take the spotlight off himself so he quickly parried with a question of his own.

"If you live in the same building then why don't you walk home together?" Laxus asked, actually curious himself. Mira's answer required little thought.

"Cana patrol is impossible to do when you're her friend." Mira explained. "Once we were walking home and Cana decided she wanted to keep partying and I tried to drag her home but she's crafty when she's hammered and managed to sneak into this dodgy club and I had to call a few friends of ours to track her down. It was a complete nightmare!" Mira exclaimed, hands moving quickly through the air. "We didn't end up finding her until the police called us," Mira said, getting a surprised look from Laxus. "She'd crawled into a kid's playground on the opposite side of the city to sleep the night, where she was picked up for being drunk and disorderly, god only knows how she got there." Mira said, chuckling at the memory. "She's mellowed out a lot since she started the firm but even now, being her bartender is enough of a challenge." She said, giving a dimpled smile. "But there's no one else I'd rather hang out with," she said, looking up into Laxus' eyes as if she was trying to decipher something, "do you know what I mean?" she probed. Laxus was taken aback, but thankfully they had arrived at the apartment building but Mira paused in the street.

"Where are you going?" Mira asked, trying to hide her smile by biting her lower lip. Laxus stopped in his tracks, slowly turning to face his companion.

"This isn't you're apartment building, is it?" he asked, knowing the answer before Mira shook her head with a giggle. "She even gets in the lift!" Laxus said, pointing towards the metallic doors which caused her giggle to turn into full laughter, not helping his exasperation. "Which building is it?" he asked in a monotone, trudging towards Mira who lead him to a slightly nicer building one block down.

"I just need to get changed, it'll only take a minute." She said, quickly rushing into her apartment on the second floor, door left gaping open for Laxus to follow in behind. "You can come in if you want!" Mira called from what he assumed was her bedroom. Slowly and cautiously Laxus walked in, observing everything he could in the limited light. Every non-vital surface was covered in photographs of the same reoccurring group of about 15 kids, some older, some much younger. Her apartment was sparsely clad in what was obviously thrift store furnishings, but what was the most astounding was the sheer amount of rather expensive looking clothes chucked everywhere. Before he could notice the black lace bra chucked under the lounge Mira appeared in a white singlet top, trackies and uggboots- true bogan fashion.

"Sorry about the mess, I have to decide on four outfits for my next photoshoot audition and it's turned into this big mess." Mira said, lifting her arms up in the air in a big dramatic gesture.

"Photoshoot?" Laxus asked, slightly confused.

"I'm surprised Cana didn't tell you- my day job is a model, she got me the job at the bar so I'll be able to pay rent." She said with a chuckle, waving him outside as she locked the door behind them.

"You're really a model?" Laxus asked, surprised to actually meet a model in real life.

"Yeah, but it isn't as glamourous as it sounds." Mira replied before knocking on the door directly across from her. Laxus heard some shuffling from inside.

"Hold on, someone's at the door. It's probably Mira…" He heard Cana say to someone on the other side of the door. The door opened with a creak and there she was, bags under her eyes but he barely noticed it- she wore a thin singlet with a strange purple swirl design on it and a pair of tatty black shorts, fraying at the seams, her hair was wrapped messily in a bun and it was his first time seeing her wearing crimson rimmed glasses. The lack of make-up, alcohol and general lack of clothing made him do a double take, but there she was, large brown eyes staring up at him in surprise.

"Oh shit…." Cana exclaimed, looking from Mira to Laxus, arms folded across his chest as he glared down at her and then back to Mira. "No, Mira's not naked you fucking idiot." Cana snapped at the person at the end of the line before turning around, beckoning the two of them in over her shoulder while still listening to the phone intently. "I still think McIntyre is better suited but if you really think Samuels then I'll contact her in the morning." She said, gesturing Laxus to the couch with a pointed finger. "Right, I agree." Cana said, nodding at some unknown comment. "Actually, I was thinking of putting Lisanna on Trunks, Ms Fiona really likes her and it's a pretty simple account." Cana said, Laxus noticed Mira perk up from the cups of tea she had started preparing in Cana's small kitchenette at the mention of her sister's name. "Right…" Cana said, frowning as she reached for a piece of paper to scrawl down a quick note. "Yeah, same." Cana said tiredly. "Ok, I'll call in an hour then." Cana said before pausing to listen to his response. "Yeah, see ya." Cana said, sighing as she placed her phone down on the table clad with piles of papers, booklets and her laptop which she softly closed the lid before turning to Laxus.

"Sorry about the phone call, Bacchus and I are in the middle of working out this mess and seeing as he can't come back early, we have to plan over the phone. It's a pain in the ass but as long as the work gets done…" Cana said, fingers rubbing her forehead as she spoke. With one last sigh she took a cup from Mira and sat in an arm chair opposite the couch, turning her attention to Laxus. "So what brings you to my humble abode?" Cana asked, offering a strained smile.

"Is this your apartment?" Laxus asked with mock surprise, exaggeratedly turning his head as he took the place in- it was a lot tidier than he thought it would be with chic antique furnishings that were from a combination of ages but somehow they worked harmoniously. Mira giggled into her tea, looking between the two. Cana was confused for a moment and was about to snap at him when she realised what he meant, her conversation with Bacchus had made it completely slip from her mind.

"Guess I should apologise, huh?" she asked, staring into her tea, but a smirk curved her lips before Laxus could respond. "But you would have worked it out eventually anyway." Cana said, chuckling which was soon joined by Mira's giggle.

"Yes, Cana you are a master of comedy." Laxus said sarcastically, "Once again you amaze me beyond words." He said, glaring at her through the steam of his mug. Cana shrugged him off, taking another sip.

"So why are you guys here?" she asked, waiting expectantly but as the silence dragged on Cana's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Mira, where did you change your clothes?" she asked, grip tightening on the mug.

"At my place, obviously." Mira replied, pointing to her uggboots.

"And where was M.M. while you were… unclothed." Cana asked with a giggle, raising an eyebrow.

"M.M.?" Mira asked, not liking where the questioning was going.

"Muscle Man." Laxus said dryly, shrugging off his jacket as the heat in the small apartment became too much.

"Woah, I didn't ask for a re-enactment!" Cana said, laughing to herself despite both Laxus' and Mira's unimpressed faces. Laxus didn't want Mira to say something unnecessary so he decided to contain the damage.

"Mira asked me to walk her home because she was afraid of being attacked by a guy that was hanging around the bar tonight, and she said that seeing as you live in the same building we should check up on you." Laxus said, raising an eyebrow at Mira in challenge but she merely hid her smile and nodded into her cup. Cana was about to make a compromising comment on Mira's behalf when Laxus asked a question. "How long do you stay in the lift?" he asked, resting his now empty mug on a scenic coaster.

"What?" she asked in confusion, Mira's chuckling irritating her deeply.

"When you get in the lift in the building a block down, how long do you stay in the lift?" he clarified, waiting patiently for an answer which Cana obviously didn't want to give.

"How about we ask incriminating questions about Mira?" Cana offered, grinning for the first time that night.

"Or now that I've made sure you're ok, I can get to bed." Mira said, quickly grabbing the three empty mugs and tossing them in the sink. Laxus knew what this was, he was being ditched, but even worse, it just had to be with Cana. Sure, he'd wanted her around earlier in the night, but now that the reality was in front of him in her tatty pyjamas, all he wanted was to be far far away. He glared at Mira freely as she offered him a farewell smile.

"Well, that was a short visit." Cana said and Mira shut the door, her attention shifting to Laxus. "I hate it when she does that." Cana said, getting up to turn the small heater down a few settings.

"Does what?" Laxus asked, slumping in the couch.

"She totally just ditched us." She replied, now in the kitchen making herself another cup of tea. "Want another?" she asked, tucking a stray hair behind her ear.

"Sure.." he replied, watching silently as she rinsed their cups, boiled the water, prepared the tea. "I didn't know you wore glasses." He said, taking another look around her apartment, this time he noticed a picture that he had just seen in Mira's house.

"I only need them for reading really so I only wear them at work." Cana replied, watching as Laxus stood, and making his way to the photo he inspected it closely. "That's my family." She said, suddenly at his side, pushing a hot mug into his hand. "There's me, Mira, Kinana," she said, pointing to a smaller version of what most definitely was the other bar maid, so he finally knew her name. "and Guildarts." She said, finishing the list of people she assumed he knew, and although he didn't notice, if he looked really hard he would notice that he was also in the photo, standing beside his grandfather and his friends, but neither of them would realise this for a long time.

"You have a big family." Laxus said, slightly jealous that he only really had his grandfather.

"Yeah, nothing beats family." Cana said bitterly before retaking her seat. "Anyway, what do you want to do to pass the time? I've got another 45 minutes before I have to restart a crap-tonne of mind numbing work with one of the world's stupidest men to have ever lived." She asked, resting her feet on the small wooden coffee table in front of them.

"What makes you think I want to hang out with you when I'm not getting paid?" Laxus asked with a smirk.

"Well, Mira managed to get you over here with that obviously bullshit story, Mira could kick your ass." Cana said, raising her pointer finger to indicate one. "Two, when Mira made her terribly unsubtle exit, you didn't follow suit." She said, raising another finger. "Three, you accepted another cup of tea." She said, raising a third finger. "And four, you're still sitting here." She said, raising her last finger. Laxus shrugged her off, pulling out his phone he checked it for a message to save him but alas, nothing. He considered lying but he knew she'd see right through it and she could make his life hell if she wanted to. "Pass me your phone." She ordered, palm outstretched.

"What?" he asked, resisting the urge to hold his phone to his chest.

"You don't have my number, which is kinda stupid when you think about it. Next time you wanna check up on me, you can just text instead." She replied, launching forward to grab it but missed it.

"Who said I was worried about you?" he snapped, keeping his phone way out of reach, acting more childishly than he had in years.

"What's the matter? Got a bunch of dick pics on there you don't want me to see?" She asked tauntingly, completely ignoring his weak defence. Reluctantly he handed over the phone, watching as she typed in her number and created a contact- only later would he realise she had sent herself a line of incriminating texts from his phone that she then erased from his.

"So what now?" she asked impatiently. Laxus considered leaving for a moment but realised she was right, he liked hanging out with her, for short periods of time at least. What did he want to do with her?

"Tell me a story." He said, took a sip of his tea and waited patiently as she decided on how to respond.

"Ok, fine…." She said, finally. "I'll tell you the story about how I met Hibiki." She said, a smirk on her lips.

"So I was at this bar with Bacchus…."

OOO

"I guess I've got to get back to work now." Cana said, glancing at the angry text from Bacchus, asking why she was already twenty minutes late returning their call. Laxus barely even noticed that it was 5am.

"Yeah, I better get home." Laxus said gruffly, getting his stuff together.

"I'll see you tomorrow night," Cana called after him as he approached the door. "try not to get too bored without me." She said with a grin, but before Laxus could reply Bacchus was already in her ear.

"Look, I'm sorry. I fell asleep, it's late over here." Cana said, waving to him as he shut the door.

"Let's just get back to business."


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail

Day 10

Laxus fingered his phone through his pocket, outlining its familiar curves over and over, fighting the urge to lift the fog of monotony and text Cana. He knew once he did there was no going back, that she would never forget it, and even if she did, she had concrete proof that he got bored without her antics. Plus there was the problem of his texting on the job not being particularly professional, but after all that Clive had put him through, surely he owed him a little leeway, especially since he'd be texting his charge.

No, he wouldn't text her.

He shouldn't text her.

Tomorrow she'll be back and he'd wish she was at home.

No, he won't text her.

OOO

Laxus stood next to his car fumbling with his keys in a vain attempt to avoid Mira. But, in some miracle she appeared right next to him, hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, I was wondering if you'd like to walk me home again tonight." Mira asked innocently, but Laxus knew she was just trying to get him over to Cana's. After last night's not so subtle insinuations, he knew exactly what she was planning and he wanted no part of it.

"Sorry, I have a meeting with our manager early tomorrow morning and I can't be late." Laxus said, still unable to find the right key which was usually not a problem. "Maybe next time?" Laxus asked half-heartedly. Mira wasn't impressed, she pouted, snatching his keys from his hands, keeping him exactly where she wanted him.

"Now you listen here," Mira snapped, getting surprisingly angry very quickly, making him remember Cana's comment about how Mira could take him down, in this moment he didn't doubt it. "Cana's our friend and she's under a lot of stress right now and the least you can do is come and check on her." She snapped, holding his keys dangerously tight- was it possible for her to bend them?

"Cana is your friend so you go check on her, I'm just her body guard." Laxus replied, determined not to get dragged all the way over there after such an exhaustingly boring night. "I don't see why I have to go over there! Now can you please give me back my keys so I can go home and get some sleep." He said, hoping that it would be that easy, but alas, he was wrong.

"If that were true you wouldn't have stayed at her place last night." She countered, eyebrows raised in challenge.

"I was there for an hour! And you left pretty much as soon as we got there! How is that checking up on her?" Laxus asked but regretted it instantly as her eyes widened almost in sync with her stance, like she was about to slap him, but thankfully she didn't. Laxus regretted that the longer this conversation went on, the less chance he would have of ever having some kind of un-Cana related relationship with her, but he'd be damned if he was giving in now.

"For whatever reason, Cana has fun when she's hanging around you so you better suck it up because tonight we are going to her apartment and making sure she's ok." She said before turning on her heel and walking down the street, his keys still firmly in her hand. He considered calling out to her, demanding she return but he had a feeling she would only ignore him, or worse-throw his keys somewhere it would take hours to find. So, beaten, he trudged unhappily behind her down the now familiar streets in furious silence. By the time they past the fake apartment building they were side by side, Mira now with an excited bounce in her step was almost comical next to Laxus' irritated shuffle. They reached the door, Mira knocked and Laxus silently hoped that she was asleep but once again she was talking to someone.

"Are you expecting someone?" a masculine voice asked, and there were sounds of shuffling.

"It's just Mira saying goodnight, if you could give me a second, I'll be right back." Cana said followed by the sound of hurried footsteps. The door swung open hastily and there was Cana in a formal looking purple blouse and tight knee length grey skirt, her usual perfect makeup taking centre stage with her hair braided to one side. Laxus liked this professional look on her better but he couldn't say that of course. He offered her an apologetic smile but was greeted with a panicked glare. Cana stepped out into the hallway, closing the door partly behind her to limit their view of her guest.

"What are you two doing here?!" Cana whispered quietly, glaring at Mira who was almost certainly behind it. Mira placed her hands on her hips and pursed her lips, obviously unimpressed with the cold welcome.

"We came to check on you, you sounded stressed on the phone earlier- I was worried about you!" Mira exclaimed, making no attempt to conceal her voice which only provoked Cana more.

"You should have called first! I told you I was going to be busy tonight!" Cana snapped before turning to Laxus who had his palm outstretched towards Mira, smugly waiting for his keys. "And you? What are you doing here? What was the point of me giving you my number if you don't use it to text me?!" she snapped, her question answered as Mira reluctantly returned the jingling metal. "Mira?!" Cana reprimanded, exasperated and stress quickly building. But before she could snap anything further the door creaked open revealing a sandy haired man in a perfectly pressed suit, Laxus noticed his perfectly manicured nails as he grasped Cana's arm inquisitively.

"Is something wrong Cana?" he asked, a concerned tone leading to his perfectly shaped eyebrows creasing slightly. He looked up, greeting Mira with an overly sincere and to Laxus he quickly concealed his surprise and offered his hand for a handshake.

"Hello Hibiki..." Mira said dryly, looking at his outstretched hand with distaste. Cana shot her a desperate warning look. Hibiki ignored Mira's attitude and turned back to Cana, trying to put her at ease with a glowing smile that made Laxus' stomach lurch.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Hibiki asked, and when Cana paused he merely patiently waited.

"Hibiki, this is my friend Laxus, he works at Guildarts' club as a bouncer, Laxus this is the friend I was telling you about, Hibiki." Cana said, giving lots of nervous smiles. Laxus knew how important Hibiki's support was to her business, keeping him happy was obviously her priority so he decided the fastest way of getting out of there was some platitudes, providing Mira kept her mouth shut.

"Cana's told me a lot about you," Laxus offered, "she told me how grateful she's been for your help the last couple of days." This seemed to satisfy Hibiki who gave Cana's arm a gentle squeeze.

"What are friends for?" he asked rhetorically, "I'm sorry that I'm going to have to steal her away but we really do have a lot of work to do." He said, his apology more of a warning. "I'll give you a moment." He said, giving her arm one final squeeze before retreating back into her apartment. As soon as he was out of sight Mira aggressively grabbed Cana's arm, forcing her back out into the hall.

"What is he doing at your place at 3 in the morning?! Please tell me you're not sleeping with Hibiki again?!" Mira demanded, which was Laxus' que to leave, with a backwards wave he headed back towards the lift. Cana shrugged her off, giving her a glare.

"No I'm not, we are just working. And even if we were it would be none of your business!" she snapped back, sprinting over to Laxus who was now boarding the elevator. "Wait a sec!" she panted, Laxus pushing the re-open button at the last second. She grinned which he found himself mirroring, finger holing down the button.

"I'm sorry about Mira, and all this drama…" she said, though her mischievous grin showed no apology. "I'm guessing this is the most hectic first two weeks you've had on a job, huh?" she asked.

"Nah, but it's pretty close." He replied with a chuckle.

"You'll have to tell me about it tonight." She said with a wink, sauntering off towards her apartment before he could object.

So she would be at the club tonight….


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: short chapter this time. As always, read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail.

Day 12

Everything in its proper place, Cana joking with Mira at the bar, Mira no longer trying to force him into compromising and awkward situations and the normal non-coma inducing rambunctious crowd was keeping him busy.

Sometime in the next hour, Cana would come over to his corner where she'd prattle on about something that he would pretend he wasn't really listening to.

Then they would walk to her building together, all the while having comfortable conversation.

Then he'd walk back alone to his car.

And do everything all over again.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: hey guys, this is a super long chapter that is very dialogue heavy and has lots of character development. I would love any constructive criticism you're willing to give. I hope you're enjoying this series as much as I am.

Anyways, as always, Read, Review and Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Day 19

It was the first time Laxus had shown up for work and genuinely dreaded the night to come. Sure, each night had its own challenge, but when he got home he could generally laugh it off.

Tonight was not going to be one of those nights.

Guildarts had called him earlier in the day to inform him that tonight was in fact Natsu Dragneel's (a regular at the club and one of Cana's friends) birthday, and judging from last year's spectacle, the club would be packed with even more idiots than the legion Mira summoned about a week ago. He considered bringing in back up but there wasn't enough time to organise it, but thankfully Clive decided to bring in extra cleaning crew- there was nothing he hated more than some drunk vomiting all over him- even a hot one.

He nodded a greeting to his team as he made his way over to his corner, surprised to find Cana helping Mira carry boxes of alcohol to the bar.

"Need a hand?" he asked, taking Cana by surprise at his proximity as she hadn't noticed him arrive, but none the less greeted him with her signature mischievous grin. Mira pointed to the store room where he found the quiet Kinana scribbling on her clip board seriously. He cleared his throat, willing himself not to smirk as she visibly jumped in shock. "Can I help with anything?" he asked, giving her a reassuring smile that made her blush- how did this girl survive behind the bar? Most likely Mira's hawkish supervision.

"Mira and Cana have taken most of it out already, all that's left is the backup spirits in that box." She said, pointing to the one adjacent his foot. "If you could take them outside I'm sure Mira can show you where to put them." she said quietly, quickly darting out of the room to attend to something else. Laxus carefully carried the fragile box, being sure not to knock the glass bottles against anything before setting it down where Mira had pointed. He didn't have time to brace himself before Cana let out an excited squeal and jumped rather haphazardly onto his back.

"Tonight is going to be so good!" she squealed, swaying as Laxus tried to dislodge her. "Aren't you excited?!" she asked, finally letting go to spin him to face her, eyes beaming. Laxus tried to shrug her off with a roll of his eyes and began walking towards his corner but she blocked his way, hands on her hips demanding an answer.

"It's just another night of work… the only difference is that tonight everyone is some kind of insane." He muttered, but instead of retreating to his corner like he usually did when she had decided he would do something, he was forced to the dance floor where all of the staff where in a tight huddle, orchestrated by Guildarts himself.

"Alright everybody, tonight is going to test all of us." He said, which Laxus thought was the understatement of the year. "The biggest issue is going to be fights. This crowd gets heated and cools off quickly, but it only takes one too many people to get involved and it becomes an all-out brawl with everyone going to the cop shop in paddy wagons, Fairy Tail Club plastered all over the news- we don't need a repeat of the Halloween catastrophe, or the Australia Day bash." He said, looking at each of the staff meaningfully. With a short clap he dismissed them. "Good luck everyone!"

Laxus knew he was going to need it.

OOO

"What's got you so hyped about tonight anyway?" Laxus asked, quickly tiring of her energetic flitting around him, spurting off random phrases which he assumed were meant to be inspirational but just made the dread build in his stomach. Cana stood in front of him, hands on her hips and a familiar expression- disappointment at his failure to grasp to obvious.

"I cancelled work tomorrow- which means I can finally let loose!" Cana exclaimed, not so patiently waiting for him to understand.

"And coming here every night and getting plastered between grinding with strangers isn't letting loose?" Laxus asked with mock confusion, which he expected to result in her typical pursed lipped glare but instead she grinned like he'd said a hilarious joke.

"I guess Mira hasn't given you 'the speech' yet, huh?" she asked, returning to her excited flitting, this time the irritating part was how he knew she was laughing at him, he just didn't know why.

"There are so many, I'm not sure which one you're talking about." He said, wishing he was joking as memories of Mira's threatening finger being waved in his face surfaced. Cana chuckled, remembering her own fair share of Mira speeches.

"Well, this one is kinda memorable…" Cana probed but when she was met with no response she dismissed him with a flick of her hair. "I wouldn't worry about it, you'll work it out for yourself soon enough." Cana said with a chuckle. Cana turned, distracted by the swarm of friends that just entered, hollering and hooting, grappling with each other. "Sorry, my people need me." She said with a dramatic air, her familiar grin getting harder and harder not to return. "I'll come find you later." She said before sprinting off into the crowd which swallowed her with squeals of delight and deep laughter.

"Alright team," Laxus said into his radio, "let the onslaught begin!"

OOO

"Dear God!" Laxus cursed silently, "Is this what hell looks like?" he thought solemnly as he pulled Dragneel and Fullbuster apart as they drunkenly punched each other for what seemed like the hundredth time. Just as he thought he'd finally finished with them, Fullbuster's blue haired girlfriend jumped on his back, yelling right in his ear some ridiculous drivel about how he had to unhand her precious blah blah blah… Now half deaf, he resisted the urge to violently throw her off his back and shrugged her off, retreating back to the sanctuary of his corner and hoping it would be a while before he had to once again infiltrate the maddening crowd.

Now able to hide behind the guise of having to remain outside the action to give concise orders (a lie Ever Green would later call him out on) he could once again search for Cana. Part of his job was to watch Cana, make sure nothing too out of hand happened which was generally pretty easy as she either stayed by the bar or danced with friends. However he discovered exactly what 'letting loose' in Cana's eyes translated to. Over the course of the night he had seen her drink close to over double her usual amount which was already incomprehensible, and that was only the drinks he had seen. She danced, long hair swaying around her, body rhythmically rocking to the beat. But as the total amount of standard drinks began to quickly add up Cana found herself with partner after partner; grinding, groping and grooving. At one point things got so heated that Bixlow found himself making a comment.

"If they grind any harder, their clothes are going to disintegrate." Bixlow murmured into his radio, there being no confusion about who he was talking about.

To Laxus' dismay, Cana stayed with the man Mira informed him to be Loke, an old childhood friend, gyrating intensifying which eventually lead to some very sloppy and very public kissing. The price of staying in his corner (which he willingly paid) was listening to Mira complain about how Cana had a habit of picking unavailable men, the list a mile long. To be quite frank, Laxus couldn't care less if Cana wanted a commitment or not- right now all he was concerned about were Clive's words ordering her to leave the club alone which meant somehow convincing Cana to keep it in her pants long enough to ditch Casanova and get her home.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he watched Cana disentangle herself from whatever his name was and make her way towards the bar. But he soon realised that she wasn't making her way towards the bar, but him. With a grin and a flirtatious swagger, she pulled up what they both now referred to as the 'Cana's stool' (though he never gave her the satisfaction of saying it out loud), stepping up so they were now at the same eye level. He wrapped a wary arm around her waist as she wobbled dangerously, grasping his arm in order to unsuccessfully balance herself. When he finally stopped worrying she was going to fall from the wooden stool and break something vital he realised she hadn't spoken which was uncharacteristic for her, he followed her line of sight and found whatever his name was kissing another girl and regretted it. What was he supposed to say? Console her? But then again he couldn't encourage her to pursue him…

His thoughts were cut off by Cana leaning all her weight against his side, making him lurch before quickly rebalancing so as not to let her fall. He glared up at her but his expression quickly softened when he saw her pained face which she quickly hid behind a grin.

"Don't sweat about Loke, he's always like that." Cana said, breaking eye contact to avoid his worried eyes that he didn't realise were showing. "There are plenty more guys where he came from, probably with less diseases." She said with a chuckle, eyes darting around the room, focussing on anything but Loke. "How about one of them?" she asked, pointing out towards a pair of men, one blonde and one with stark black hair.

"You came all the way over here to ask my opinion on which guy you should bone?" he asked, both wary and unimpressed of the turn in the conversation. Cana laughed, the vibrations seeping into his torso where she clung to him.

"Actually I came over here to ask you to dance." She said, her grin this time seeming genuine. "I know you have a no dancing on the job rule," she said, he remembered the phony rules he'd made up along the way to get her to lay off, he knew somewhere along the line she'd picked up that it was all crap but she never let on. "but I figured it was worth a shot." She said, jumping off the chair and landing on her feet smoothly despite the heels revealing she wasn't nearly as drunk as she pretended to be. Before he could object she grabbed his hands, swaying her body side to side in an awkward kind of dance, pulling his arms in an attempt to force him to dance. Rather than pull away and invent some kind of disturbance that he had to sort out like usual, he gave in and let her take control of his arms, watching her sway in the shadows.

"As far as I could see you were doing more dry humping than dancing." He said, chuckling at the flush in her cheeks- so she could act like that in front of a club full of people but she was embarrassed by being called out on it.

"It had the desired effect." Cana said, pulling his arms uncomfortably out of sync as she playfully glared at him.

"So what's the point of this?" he asked, raising his arms slightly before letting them flop back into her control. She smirked, pausing for a moment to consider the question.

"To see if you've got the moves to go with all those muscles." She said seriously, cocking an eyebrow before breaking into a fit of laughter, the alcohol taking effect. Laxus waited until the giggling subsided to make his move. Taking her by surprise he pulled her in close and proceeded to spin her on her heels before pulling her back, all of which happened within the warm confines of his arms. He smirked at her shocked expression but before she could come up with a witty come back or over the top flirtation he cut her off. "Sorry, gotta work, those idiots are brawling again." He said, smirk still planted firmly on his lips as he walked out into the crowd, making sure the blue haired woman was preoccupied before pulling the two idiots apart.

As he wandered back and saw that Cana had disappeared back into the crowd, he deliberated as to whether he had crossed a line that Cana was always pushing. But all his fears were erased when he saw her returning to him with two drinks, one of which she always offered to him before downing both.

"Do you want one? It's Vodka and coke." She said, offering it with a grin and the familiar mischievous glint.

"Nah, you better drink 'em."

OOO

"Fuuuuuck!" Laxus groaned, unaware he had done so out loud let alone clearly heard by his team through their radios.

"What's wrong Laxus?" Freed's anxious voice asked through the radio making him take pause but before he could come up with a good answer Bixlow answered for him.

"Because now he has to pry Cana off that guy-" Bixlow said before being cut off by Laxus, not wanting an audience to what was most likely going to be an ugly and degrading affair.

"Yes, I think we all get the idea Bixlow." He snapped, hoping to watch from a distance until the last possible moment to intervene, but to his relief after one last unpleasantly long kiss Cana and whoever the new guy was parted ways and she drunkenly sauntered towards him, having to stop a couple of times to balance herself on nearby objects and people.

"Let's go muscle man!" Cana slurred, pumping her fist in the air in an attempt to inspire excitement but almost unbalanced herself and stumbled forward, the crown of her head connecting with Laxus' stomach. With a sigh Laxus once again wrapped an arm around her waist and helped her stumble towards the door. While she was too drunk to take in anything much more than Laxus holding her up and the street beneath her feet, Laxus was left with all the awkward farewells and concerned glances. Slowly, little by little they made it towards her apartment, each step arduous. Laxus knew that it would be much faster and much less uncomfortable for both of them if he just picked her up and carried her home, but after their little dance he didn't want to make things any more questionable.

"We better pick up the pace or I'm not going to be able to meet Max at my apartment." Cana said, taking a deep breath as she plunged forward only to be stopped by Laxus, his muscular arms easily keeping her stationary in her state.

"What do you mean meet some guy at your apartment- you can't seriously be thinking of screwing anyone in your state!?" he snapped, exasperated- so she was sober enough to organise a late night booty call but not be able to walk home without support. But none of his objections phased Cana in the least, pushing him away she stood on shaky legs to tell him exactly where it stopped being his business.

"Look, your _job_ is to get me home, not judge whether or not I'm sober enough to perform in the bedroom so I suggest you do your job and take me home!" She snapped, and when he didn't immediately come to her aid she staggered on by herself and to his amazement each step sobered her up slightly until, while still slightly wobbly, she walked upright. It was the first time he'd seen her like this- so unapologetically determined. There was no joking smile or smug grin as she walked on, just the determination to get what she wanted, that in her drunken state he doubted she even knew what that was. There was no way he could leave her like this in good conscience, no matter how sober she thought she was. He quickly raced forward and clutched her arm, forcing her to a stop and despite her unbridled disdain there was little she could physically do but listen to what he had to say.

"Now you better listen to me because this isn't up for argument- from the time you enter the club you are my responsibility." He said forcefully, his intense stare leaving her unable to raise a defence. "Tonight, you had way more booze than you should have and if there were any inspectors there tonight both Mira and I would have gotten fired, no matter what Guildarts had to say." he said, now gripping her on each side at her shoulders to keep her attention solely on him. "Now if you go home and do something stupid and injure yourself, or get raped because you're too drunk to know what's going on, that's on me." He finished, looking deep into her eyes to try to make her understand. Cana frowned, opened her mouth as if to launch a counter argument but thought better of it and looked away in defeat.

"Fine… let go of me…" she said quietly, but instead of trying to pull away she simply waited for him release her and continued stumbling on, rejecting his attempts to help her. As the silence lengthened Laxus began to feel guilt swell up inside him, perhaps he had pushed too far? Going over his words he couldn't think of anything that was overly hurtful. Luckily he didn't have to ponder it for long as Cana turned to walk up the stairs of her fake apartment building. He reached out to grasp her arm but didn't want to make whatever he had done wrong worse and let it drop.

"That's not you're apartment building." Laxus said, hoping she would realise her mistake and quietly stumble back towards him but of course she did none of that. Instead, she turned to face him from her place half way up the small flight of stairs with a confused expression.

"I know that, I'm not that drunk." She said with disdain before a look of realisation came over her face, softening her features before continuing her laboured speech. "Sorry, I forgot that I hadn't shown you the roof." She said before turning and walking back up the stairs towards the elevator, with a flick of her hand she beckoned him to follow her. It wasn't until they were slowly but steadily rising through the floors in the ancient elevator that Laxus dared speak.

"The roof?" he asked, hoping that this meant their silence could remain broken.

"You wanted to know where I go when I go in the elevator- you can see it for yourself." She said, leaning against him lightly before righting herself. Laxus remembered the conversation from the first time he had been inside her apartment which seemed like so long ago now but in reality was only a few weeks. Since, he had been to her place many times for tea and coffee, sometimes Mira came along and they watched TV for a while and played one of Cana's many drinking games except with non-alcoholic substitutes- his favourite was sour worms dipped in Nutella which sounded disgusting but wasn't all that awful once you had a few. He glanced at her as she tied her hair up in a bun, twisting the hair around haphazardly before snapping the elastic home as the elevator doors opened to a small dingy room that's only items of note were a large metal container and a bulky security door.

"Is it ok for us to be up here?" he asked, stepping out of the elevator to crouch down in front of the box with her. When she opened it with a metallic screech, the dull light did little to illuminate its contents until Cana reached in with familiarity and grasped a torch which she turned on with a click. Instantly he could see an umbrella, an assortment of cushions and rugs, a range of half empty bottles of cheap booze in a cracked esky, assorted nick knacks and a bag which concealed whatever was inside.

"Well seeing as I own the place so I'd like to think so." Cana said, little humour in her voice.

"What are we doing up here?" Laxus asked quietly as she began rifling through the box, pulling out random objects but thankfully didn't touch the booze.

"Well, I'm going to have to deal with the mother of all hang overs tomorrow, and seeing as I've been banned from anything fun involving a bedroom I'd rather spend the last of my buzz up here." She said, pushing the heavier items into his hands. "I'd tell you to go home but I doubt you trust me not to 'do something stupid and injure myself' so you may as well make yourself useful." She said, pulling at the long thin almost invisible chain around her neck that held three keys.

"I trust you…" Laxus said in defence but couldn't think of a way to end the sentence so he just let it hang between them. Thankfully Laxus assumed Cana hadn't heard him due to her lack of response as she pried the door open. Laxus fought a gasp as he slowly walked forward, taking in the extraordinary sight around him. Cana trudged forward, not even looking up before dumping her few things on the floor in a familiar spot near a large tatty couch covered with an old tarp which she quickly through off while Laxus stood, stunned. The roof was covered with an intricate system of pots that housed what seemed to be an infinite variety of plants, each specifically placed, but the most stunning feature was the assortment of lights that while invisible from below, but from above would shine more beautifully than anything around for miles. After a few moments he collected himself and made his way over to Cana. First she took the stuff he was carrying and nodded for him to sit at the edge of the couch. Cana became absorbed in ordering the stuff they'd brought out and Laxus became content watching her move in the conflicting light. She opened the mysterious bag to reveal an assortment of food which she dumped in a neat pile in front of them. She lit an ancient looking citronella candle that's wax was pooled over the tiny table beside the couch and finally dumped the blankets at the end opposite to Laxus on the couch. She tiredly sat on the couch, looking at the lights that while she had become used to over her perpetual visits, they were still stunning to look at.

"Did you do all this?" he asked, still in awe. Cana chuckled, leaning forward to grab an already opened bag of lolly snakes and began chewing on them.

"Nah, I could never do anything this amazing." Cana said, finishing chewing before explaining. "Bacchus used to live in this building when we first started out and there was this lovely old lady that had been a landscape designer, apparently she was the director of some big garden but she lost all her money because of some family drama." Cana said, glancing up at him to make sure he was paying attention. "Anyway, she used to let us come up here when we wanted as long as we helped her out here and there, even after Bacchus moved out. But she got cancer and died pretty much a month after finding out which was really sad." She said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Not long after that the owners of this building wanted to sell it to developers and it would have been knocked down so Bacchus and I pretty much just worked non-stop for about a week until we had enough cash to top the developers offer, they wanted to fight us on it but Bacchus can be pretty convincing when he wants to be." She said, a faint smile on her lips before once again diving into the story. "We hired her daughter to look after it though I think she'd do it for free if we didn't force her to take the money." She said with a deep heave in of breath before leaning against him to curl up on the couch, her head resting on his lap. Usually Laxus would have shrugged her off as the contact being unprofessional or made up some phony rule, but in that intimate moment, surrounded by beauty and the revelation that once again Cana was more than she seemed he let it be, the heat of her cheek resting against his thigh somehow soothing.

"It's beautiful here," he offered. "I understand why you were so desperate to save it." He said, feeling her shiver as the chilling wind brushed against them. He reached over, gently pulling one of the blankets up over her exposed legs.

"Thanks.." she said sleepily but when he looked down he saw her eyes were wide open, staring out at the different coloured lights surrounding them. "Ask me a question." She said, like she had done many times when it was too silent for her to bear. Laxus considered trying to spin it back on her, disliking being forced to take control of the conversation but was lulled by the atmosphere.

"I don't know what to ask." He lied, running a hand through his short cropped hair.

"Ask me anything…" she requested, her voice trailing off but her eyes still wide open. Laxus reached down and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear but as soon as he realised what he had done he froze, waiting for her rebuff but when it didn't come he let his arm sit atop the couch like it had done before.

"Are you in love with Bacchus?" he asked, feeling he would regret it later but surprisingly she didn't react in her typical smug fashion. It was a question that had been bugging him for a while, from what he could gather they had been inseparable for the last eight years or so and she was constantly telling him stories with Bacchus painted as either her best friend or some kind of hero. But the biggest oddity was Mira's silence whenever he came up- Mira seemed to have an opinion on everything, and he had heard all of them, even the one about the quality of toilet paper in the staff bathroom, but she was shut up tighter than a clam when it came to the mystery man. He considered asking her directly but he knew he didn't want to have to be subjected to her probing.

"No, it's… complicated." She said, shifting her weight uncomfortably on the couch.

"You asked me-" he said but was cut off by her curt tone.

"I know… I just have never been asked that before…" she said, uncomfortable but unwilling to give in and let the conversation die because she knew full well that Laxus could sit in silence for what seemed to her to be extraordinarily long periods.

"So he never asked you if you love him?" he said, confused as to how two people could be so close for so long and that never even register.

"Not exactly that bluntly, we did try dating for a while but it didn't work out." She said, choosing her words carefully.

"Why-" he began to ask but once again was cut off by Cana's stern voice.

"Just give me a minute to think!" she snapped, shifting her head so she was looking up at the stars, giving Laxus a full view of her face as her hair splayed out across his lap.

"And here I thought you wanted me to ask you a question." He said, smirk slowly erased by Cana's irritated glaring. "Fine, fine, I'll shut up." He muttered, looking away from her, out into the lights. After a long while she began to speak, but at an uncharacteristically slow pace, each of her words hand-picked.

"When I was 6 my mum died, and so DOC's found my Dad's family but he was always travelling on business so I told them I didn't want to live with him. For a long time I lived in different orphanages until I was a bit older and one of my Dad's friends found me and took me in." She explained, always staring straight up at the stars. Laxus was speechless while at the same time brimming with so many questions but he wouldn't dare interrupt her now.

"When I got accepted to Uni I decided to tell my Dad who I was and he was great. He was super supportive, over affectionate, everything I'd dreamed having a Dad would be like. But he couldn't stay in one place for too long and soon he was travelling again. He called all the time and sent me stuff but it wasn't the same." She continued, taking a deep breath inward. "It was like I'd had my mum and then lost her, then I had my foster family but with Uni I didn't have time or space in my life for them anymore, and then I finally found my Dad and then he was gone. And that's when I found Bacchus." She said, chancing a quick glance at Laxus to find him staring intently at her face before looking away into the garden, a troubled look on his face but she dare not ask him about it or she would never finish.

"He was this amazing post grad who was the only person I'd met who could out drink me. We started seeing each other at all the same bars and then eventually we started planning which bar to go to and over drinks he told me about this company he wanted to start." She said, finally smiling again, although it was rather faint. "So I showed him what I could do and after a while he agreed to make me a partner and he took care of getting clients while I was doing Uni full time and putting in hours at the firm. It was really hard but it was totally worth it, and through everything Bacchus was always there, helping me with exams, dealing with my family, managing everything and through most of it we were sleeping together between relationships until we eventually tried out dating but it just didn't work, we were both stressed and we'd fight and it got to the point where we were both staying at friends and avoiding each other at work which nearly cost a client their savings…" she said with regret but it was clear the story wasn't over yet. "So we both decided to call it in. And shortly after that I started dating this guy called Mest… which is a story for another time… but it's safe to say that it ended horribly with a lot of money gone missing and through all of it he had my back." She said, reaching up to fiddle with the keys around her neck as she turned back to Laxus' now unreadable face. "So yes I love Bacchus but I'm not in love with him…" she said, thinking back to what she'd said, her feelings that were so complicated before now sounded simple in her concise words. Laxus said nothing, he felt ashamed for ever thinking that she was just some rich Daddy's party girl. How did he ever mistake her for something so shallow? Was she as good at hiding as he was? But then…

"Why did you tell me all that?" he asked, breaking the long tense silence. Cana for a second time that night lay there in silent thought and Laxus knew better than to interrupt her.

"Because I'm too drunk to think of a reason not to tell you, I probably wouldn't tell you any of this if I was sober, or maybe I would, it's so hard to work out when I'm drunk and when I'm sober or if that even makes a difference…" she muttered to herself, and his guilt increased as he realised that he had unknowingly taken advantage of her. "But I think it's mostly because _you_ asked," she said, her face scrunching up in concentration. "hanging out with you is easy, like with Bacchus but not… you're a lot more…" she said, the crease between her brows deepening until Laxus tried to smooth it out with his finger to distract her before she said anything too honest for comfort.

"Don't think too hard, you'll hurt yourself." He said with a chuckle while she glared at him but he knew she wasn't really angry with him unlike earlier. He considered asking why she had been so upset but there was already too much honesty for one night. "Pass me that jar of Nutella." He said, gesturing to the unopened plastic jar on the floor near her arm. She unthinkingly reached out and was about to pass it to him when she paused, stopping him from taking it from her grasp.

"How are you going to eat that?" she asked as he hadn't asked for anything else.

"With my finger." He replied as if it was the most obvious answer in the world. Cana's mouth opened in shock and she slowly but surely sat up, shaking her head in disgust.

"That's so gross!" she exclaimed, rifling through the pile of goodies until her hand closed around a bag of sour worms. When Laxus saw what was in her hand he laughed, taking the Nutella from her and popping it open before offering it to her. "That's better!" she said with approval, swirling a sour worm around before handing him the bag so he could do the same.

"How do I rate compared to your other jobs?" she asked, mouth full of worms. Laxus put a finger to his chin in mock concentration before stuffing a bunch of Nutella covered sour worms in his mouth.

"Definitely in the top ten." He said with a nod, leading over her to get the snakes she had discarded earlier.

"That's good."

OOO

Laxus could hear someone calling his name, then he noticed who he guessed to be the same person urgently tapping on his face and finally he noticed the uncomfortable crick in his neck.

"Laxus! Wake up or you can forget about breakfast because I'm going back to bed!" Cana snapped, her tapping growing less patient.

"What?" Laxus groaned into what he thought was his pillow but was actually her couch arm rest.

"Get up!" she snapped, but all he wanted to do was tell her to fuck off and go back to sleep but before he could muster the strength she grabbed his shoulder and rolled him off the couch, making him wake with a start.

"Fuck!" he yelled, sitting up in a heartbeat and trying to orientate himself. While this place looked different in the light of day it was definitely Cana's apartment. Why was he at Cana's apartment? When had they left the roof? Oh, that's right, when it looked like the sun was going to come up he carried her home and she offered her couch which he was too tired to refuse. He ignored Cana, reaching around blindly for his phone until Cana produced it from some corner of the room. He clicked the on button a few times until it clicked that it must be dead, and before he could even muster a groan Cana had a charger shoved in his face.

"This should work on your phone." She said, waiting patiently for him to take it which he eventually did, giving her a smile of victory.

"What time is it?" he asked, his voice raspy, most likely brought on by his odd sleeping arrangements. Cana glanced at one of her cupboards which he assumed held a clock but couldn't be bothered checking for himself.

"It's about one…" she said, cut off by Laxus groaning rather loudly as he realised that he had missed a meeting, and he was supposed to take his grandfather to the doctors (which was code for the race course). "Had plans huh?" she asked, her genuine concern strange to the Cana he was used to bantering with.

"Yeah, I'm pretty much fucked." Laxus said, trying to unsuccessfully jam the charger into the port before Cana wordlessly took both from him, expertly fit them together and plugged the charger into the outlet.

"Sorry about all this." She announced awkwardly, not making eye contact as she turned to the breakfast she was managing on the stove. Laxus stopped himself from replying with a snide comment long enough to try and remember exactly what had happened, and that's when it hit him- Cana had bared her soul to him and now here she stood, making him breakfast. He stood and made his way over to the bench where he noticed she had prepared a range for breakfast foods- how long had she been cooking while he had been asleep?

"Don't worry about it, you're still in the top ten." He said, reaching out to grab a plate with a mountain of crispy bacon. Cana smiled, taking a piece of bacon for herself before watching him eat the rest faster than she thought possible.

"How do I get into the top five?" she asked, more as a joke than an actual question.

"Get me some more of that bacon and you can be number one."

OOO

Laxus had his hand on the door knob, ready to turn it and finally put this event to an end when he felt the knob move on its own as the door was plunged inward, almost hitting him in the face which would have just been the icing on the cake, he thought to himself. That was until he realised it was Mira, blue eyes wide, who opened the door.

"I ah.. I came to check on Cana." Mira stuttered, Laxus could practically see her thoughts on her face.

"Don't worry, she didn't die of alcohol poisoning, she's sleeping." He said as he tried to shuffle past her but after the shock past a look of accusation passed between them, Mira blocking his way out.

"Why are you here at two in the afternoon? In the same clothes as you were in yesterday?" Mira asked, pressing him up against the wall of Cana's small hallway, which would have been erotic if Mira didn't look so homicidal.

"Look, I was worried about Cana so we watched some TV until late and she let me crash on her couch, that's it." Laxus lied, he wasn't ready to share that memory with anyone just yet, certainly not Mira.

"Mira?" Cana asked sleepily, her presence going unnoticed by the two until she spoke. "What's going on?" she asked, confused until she recognised the threatening look on Mira's face.

"Mira, don't worry about Laxus." She said with a dismissive flick of her hand but when Mira didn't entirely back down due to Cana's habit of understating how bad things really were, she put her hand's on her hips, tilting them to one side like he had seen her do at the bar so many times.

"If you kill my new fiancé how are we ever going to get married?" Cana exclaimed very seriously, even Laxus was almost convinced.

"Married?!" Mira exclaimed in shock, taking a step backward to brace herself against the wall, giving Laxus just enough time to make an escape. Laxus chuckled as he sprinted down the stairs, not wanting to get caught up in the fight about to break out, that was until he realised that tonight he would be put square in the middle of it.

"Shit…"


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: here's a short but sweet chapter. I hope you read, review and enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail.

Day 20

Laxus stood in his corner in anticipation. He had very stealthily managed to avoid Mira on his way in but he knew that Cana would arrive soon which would draw her out, and even if it didn't he knew some kind of meeting was inevitable. As if on que Cana entered but without her usual swagger, in its place was a very average slow walk- ah she was sober.

"Hey." She said, her eyebrows raised in question, waiting for his response.

"Hey?" he asked, not sure what she was expecting but rather than answering she dismissed him with a role of her eyes. She walked away only to return a moment later with the Cana stool which she plopped down on. Looking up at him she slowly began to smirk then chuckle leaving Laxus no choice but to cock an eyebrow at her.

"Don't worry about Mira, I set her straight." She said, trying to maintain an earnest expression but ended up in laughter.

"God, what did you say now?" he groaned, running a tired hand through his hand. "She doesn't really think we're getting married does she?" he asked, his serious expression juxtaposing her grin comically.

"You're getting married?!" Ever screeched through the radio, her confusion due to the many gaps in Laxus' recount to the tribe on the night before. Laxus grasped the radio to his mouth, ignoring Bixlow and Freed's similar outbursts.

"No I'm not bloody getting married! Stop listening in on me and get back to your _jobs_." He ordered before double checking that the radio was no longer transmitting their conversation. Cana put a soothing hand on his shoulder but he ended up feeling much more patronised than soothed.

"I just told her that you crashed on my couch because you were worried I'd do something stupid." Cana said with a shrug. "Whether she believed me or not is totally up to interpretation." She said, bursting into another round of giggles, Laxus' glare doing little to sober her. "You know, this whole time she's been shoving you down my throat and when there is a chance of that being a literal reality she loses her shit- some people are just so confusing." Cana said with mock sincerity. Ignoring Laxus' look of horror she bounded off the stool and headed over to the bar.

"Please tell me you didn't say something stupid." Laxus said, following after her which was something she hadn't anticipated as he usually never abandoned his post no matter how much she baited him- once she even threatened to take off her top if he didn't come dance with her and he didn't even bat an eyelid.

"I didn't _say_ anything bad," Cana said with an infuriating grin. But before they could continue to bicker Mira came around the corner, froze, looked between them, flushed deeply and walked back around the corner in a flustered hurry.

"Cana!? What the fuck was that?" Laxus snapped, slamming his hand down on the bar, glaring into her surprised eyes. She studied his face for a few moments, calculating the possible reasons behind his response before getting to her feet and stepping forward, their chests touching.

"_That_ was a joke, and you need to calm your shit. I wouldn't say anything to fuck up your job or your position ogling Mira's ass so I suggest you chill out or you'll end up blowing your shot with her better than anything I could've said." She said seriously in a hushed tone, continuing to stare at his eyes even when he looked way, irritated at being called out on his fascination with Mira. But strangely it wasn't that Mira was under some misconception about him that made him so frustrated, it was that he thought he and Cana had actually become friends, or something close, and she just made him into a joke. Was he really feeling the burn of rejection? Surely it was just anger at being mocked or… But she cut his half formed rebuttal down with a fake grin and another patronising tap on the arm. "Ok, muscle man?" she asked rhetorically. As far as Laxus was concerned she had made her position clear- they weren't friends, he was her joke.

Well, he wasn't going to be pulled in again.

"Ok, Miss Alberona."

OOO

"What's wrong with Laxus?" Mira asked, leaning over the bar to whisper in Cana's ear. She grimaced, not wanting to recount their conversation for fear of one of Mira's infamous speeches. Since their confrontation Laxus had stayed in his corner, which wasn't strange other than the way his face was set in a constant glower. His team must have sensed his anger because she could see them glance worriedly out in his direction, hoping for a glimpse of him as they carried out their jobs. Cana even bought him his favourite non-alcoholic drink on the menu, braved his ignoring and angry silence to offer it to him only to be told

"Sorry, I can't drink on the job, that would be unprofessional." In a monotone. She didn't bother to insist as she would have usually done, but slunk back to the bar in a fog of depression, sipping her non-alcoholic drinks. Cana had no idea Laxus could be such a drama queen, but the justification that he was over reacting did little to quell her growing spiral of guilt and anxiety.

"I kinda pissed him off… maybe." Cana replied, giving in to the need to confide in Mira. Mira gave her a reprimanding look but was pulled away by a customer looking for a vodka shot. When she returned Cana expected the usual interrogation and then run down of how exactly she was going to fix the mess she'd created but Mira surprised her.

"Do you know how you're going to fix it?" She asked, unable to look up from the drinks she was mixing before handing them to a clubber and moving on to the next one. Cana, sat, stunned and actually thought, hard, and somewhere in the jumbled mess that was her mind came to a conclusion.

"Yeah… but I don't have to like it."

OOO

Cana waved Laxus towards the door and ignored his irritated glare as she walked out into the streets. He walked a few metres behind her, never speaking or altering his pace, that was until Cana forced him to a stop, turning to face him and keeping their eyes locked she began the speech she had been rehearsing in her head all night.

"I'm sorry, I'm an asshole." Cana said, which got her from a glare to a brief look of approval before his jaw reclenched.

"Look, when you left, Mira kept pushing pushing pushing about what happened, and I was tired… but mostly I just wanted it to be our thing rather than having to share it with everyone else so I implied…" Cana said, this time looking away so she didn't notice Laxus' surprise.

"I implied that Isawyourmorningwoodwhileyouweresleepingonthecouch." She said so fast that all her words slurred together, but he could work out enough that a flush went through his cheeks.

"Which distracted her enough to make her forget all about it." She said, chancing a look up but Laxus had a hand covering his face which was never a good sign. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch and I used you to get Mira off my back." She said, desperation seeping into her voice. "Can we just go back to being friends, because I meant what I said, I really like being friends with you…" she said, her anxiety growing as Laxus didn't remove his hand, blocking her view of face.

"Fine, but only if you shout me pizza." He said with a smirk, walking past her down the street. Cana stood, watching him walk away for a moment before she snapped out of it and jogged after him.

"Fine, but you have to order it, you're orders are always too confusing for me." She said, making no efforts to hide her grin as she walked with him side by side, their arms brushing against each other.

"I always get cheese pizza." He argued, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, but it has _five_ types of cheese on it, and when they ask I never know what to say, and remember that time I got the wrong one and you couldn't eat it and it ended up sitting in my fridge for ages!" She reasoned just as forcefully.

"Alright Alright, I'll order it."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Hey fellow Laxana lovers! I know it's been a long time since I published anything but here it goes! This is a long chapter and is mainly dialogue but I'm hoping to show some character depth. The main reason this chapter came about is because a special person pm'd me and asked me to write more. I'm busy with uni and life stuff so I don't know when the next one will be but this would never have been possible without that pm. So I would like to dedicate this chapter to XxAshDragneelxX. Thank you for inspiring me. As always, read, review and enjoy!

-Jude

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Day 34

"Bacchus gets home tonight." Cana said to Laxus and Mira between sips of whatever strong smelling liquid she was drowning herself with.

"So what's the famous Bacchus like any way?" Laxus asked, both Laxus and Cana smirking as Mira's face scrunched up in distaste.

"Oh come on Mira, he's not that bad!" Cana said, swinging on her stool before downing the rest of her drink in a bid to ignore Mira's pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Clearly getting no support from Cana she turned to Laxus.

"The first time I met him he bet my little brother he could beat him in a fight, and if he won he'd get a three way with my baby sister Lisanna and I." She said, waiting for Laxus' gasp of shock that never came.

"Mira, I've seen your brother and there is nothing little about him." Laxus said inspiring a round of laughter from Cana that lasted a little too long like it always did when she was drinking.

"Plus Bacchus was really drunk when-" Cana began but was cut off by Mira's stern voice.

"Cana, he's always drunk!" she snapped, angrily handing out drinks to her unnerved customers, paying no attention to the odd looks.

"So am I!" Cana said with a grin but in her eyes was a challenge and it hit Laxus why Mira had kept her silence about Bacchus until now- Cana was the over protective type, which should have been obvious from the way she spoke about her close ones.

"If he's the same kind of drunk as you I don't get how you get any work done." Laxus said with a grin, swooping in to save Mira from a rock and a very sharp hard place. Cana's eyes narrowed but she couldn't keep her grin in check as she fought back a laugh.

"It's hard but we somehow manage." She said, hand out ready for another drink which Mira gave her, relieved she'd dodged the bullet and surprised at how easily she'd walked straight into the gun.

"Anyway, I thought you'd want to be there when he gets back." Laxus said before breaking away from their conversation briefly to murmur into his radio which triggered Freed to quickly cut through the crowd and resolve the fight before it escalated any further.

"Naw, he's always pretty smashed when he gets back from a trip home so we're meeting up tomorrow." She said, looking down to glance into her glass while she spoke, which by now Laxus knew signalled that there was more than she was saying, but she was too uncomfortable to bring it up. If it was something big he would usually wait for Mira to bring it up and intently listen in while pretending he was preoccupied with overlooking the club. But as he had observed before, Mira avoided talking about anything to do with Bacchus like the plague. Knowing her, she probably wouldn't be able to contain her disdain for him which would cause Cana to react and start a fight. They had probably played out the same arguments an uncountable amount of times before Mira decided to stop bringing him up. The question now became whether he should persist or follow Mira's suit. It was a toss up between reinforcing the small remnant of the boundaries he'd placed between them and admitting they had died a long time ago in lieu of a rather entertaining friendship. While he did consider her a friend he wasn't quite sure he was ready to openly admit that to her yet or she might become even more attached to him in her strange clingy yet still at arm's length kind of way.

Moment after moment passed and still he couldn't decide how to proceed until he finally settled on a solution- the sideways probe, a trick he'd learnt from Mira.

"I bet you're glad you won't have to deal with all the paper work by yourself anymore." Laxus said, staying on the same topic without directly asking what he wanted to know. Cana grunted in agreement, eyes still on her booze. Laxus fought hard to stop himself from letting his eyes roll in exasperation. He was going to have to ask straight out, wasn't he? He opened his mouth to ask but before a sound came out a man was standing between them, his arm wound around Cana's back. Cana was slightly startled, she was hardly ever approached at the bar since she started spending more and more of her time sitting with Laxus, his glare scaring off drunken groping hands.

"I was told I could find you here but you look even more stunning than I had pictured." Hibiki said, standing so he effortlessly blocked off any access Laxus had to her. His first thought was sweep him out of the way like he usually did when unknown men approached, but Cana would probably very literally attempt to strangle him if he interfered with the overdressed man. Cana looked up from her drink at first in surprise but then gave him a hearty smile, leaning in for a quick hug while discreetly putting her toxic brew back behind the bar to avoid Hibiki's eye.

"What brings you down to my watering hole?" Cana asked, fluttering her eyelashes in what Laxus thought was an overly flirtatious fashion but Mira recognised as their normal banter. Cana knew that in order to keep Hibiki's good will she would have to flatter him, and even though he knew it was just a show for his benefit, this mutual understanding effectively balanced and maintained their relationship.

"Well, I wanted to catch up with you before Bacchus got back but we've both been so busy that a meeting during business hours became impossible. So when I realised that he got back today I just had to track you down." He said, pulling up a stool next to her, a little too close for Laxus' comfort. Laxus wasn't quite sure why he didn't like Hibiki so much. They had only met once before and exchanged a hand full of words but he could see that every word was calculated behind a cold mask that promised compassion but gave a carefully considered response. He knew that Cana and Mira felt the same way about his exterior, but for some reason Cana still clung to him. He understood logically that he was a vital business partner that had helped her countless times, but the idea that Cana had slept with such a cold and unattached person went against everything he knew about her. How could the passionate and caring woman he knew get caught up with him? He knew it was none of his business, and he shouldn't be thinking about it, but as Hibiki leaned in to quickly kiss her cheek Laxus couldn't help but feel a bad taste in his mouth.

"What did you have to talk to me about without Bacchus around?" Cana asked, but before he could answer she asked again "Do you want something to drink?" Hibiki paused and considered for a moment as if the idea hadn't occurred to him, which Laxus found even more irritating- of course he knew whether he was going to have a drink, he just walked into a goddamned bar! But of course Laxus didn't snap out a witty retort as he would have had Cana done something similarly stupid. Instead he pushed past them out onto the dance floor to separate some grinders who were getting a little too frisky for their partners. When he returned Hibiki was sitting with a gin and tonic, lightly sipping whilst blatantly ignoring Laxus' looming presence.

"Anyway, getting back to the point, I wanted to know how my recommendations went." Hibiki asked, which Cana knew was a rather loaded question which completely escaped the staff listening in. Mira caught Laxus' gaze and dramatically rolled her eyes, losing focus of the task at hand and almost dropped a pair of shot glasses. Laxus grinned but supressed a chuckle, wanting to hide their exchange from Hibiki.

"Sharon has been phenomenal. She transitioned into it easily, touched base with all our major clients and helped organise the staff. I was most impressed with her organisational skills, I received regular reports and all major consultations were run by me first. She was perfect at adapting to what we needed throughout the whole process." Cana said in a tone Laxus had only heard a few times before, she was in business mode. He noticed how her back was straight, her eyes sharp, conveying the depth of her intelligence.

'So this is what serious Cana looks like?' Laxus thought to himself, the desire to see her at work rising like it did sometimes when she revealed facets of herself, each more interesting than the last. He enjoyed sober Cana the most, she had a way of keeping him guessing, always off guard. Passionate Cana was terrifying, it wasn't anger necessarily, just too many emotions which usually involved a lot of ranting and lots of broken glasses. When her younger brother nearly got kicked out of school for starting a brawl which ended in someone getting their head smashed through a window it was almost like a re-enactment of war of the worlds. Insanely drunk Cana wasn't too much fun, she was either uncomfortably vulnerable or uncomfortably sick. Slutty Cana was the worst though, he could handle a bit of vomit, he hated it but he could handle it. But when she attached herself to some random lowlife and he had to pry her off, it was one of the most degrading things he'd ever have to do. She knew he hated it but she did it anyway, and once she had the nerve to wink at him whilst making out with some grungy ferrel she'd picked up.

"That's good," Hibiki replied, taking another miniscule sip, "I'd heard good things about her. We have a short term opening coming up next month. I was waiting on your opinion before making my recommendation, but seeing as it all went well she should be a great choice." He said with a smile.

"You won't regret it! If she can organise our permanently dishevelled firm then I'm sure she'll be more than capable." Cana said with a sweet smile, lightly placing her hand atop his. "I'll let her know tomorrow at our debriefing with Bacchus that she can expect to hear from you." She said, at Bacchus' name Hibiki's face gave a slight twitch, the closest he ever came to openly grimacing. Cana withdrew her hand, leaning back into her stool and fighting the urge to call Hibiki out on his disdain for Bacchus she simply reached out, took his glass from his hand, downed the drink and grinned at Hibiki's expression.

"Now that we've talked business, we are at the hottest spot in Sydney." Cana said, jumping up off her stool to take Hibiki's hand and pull him to his feet. "How about we dance for a bit?" she said with a grin, but instead of waiting for an answer she forced him out into the crowd. Laxus watched as they made their way out onto the floor, always standing too close. Laxus watched on, a ball growing in his stomach as they danced. Hibiki was undeniably attractive in his own right, and his clothes while aiming to be stylish without trying were obviously excessively expensive. His mauve long sleeved shirt rolled to his elbows and tight fitted jeans rubbed up against Cana's tight crimson dress which hugged her form like a second skin. It wasn't like Laxus hadn't had to watch Cana grind against men before, but this time was different. The longer they stayed on the floor the more he was afraid the awful feeling in his gut wouldn't go away unless he ripped him off her.

"I really don't know how she can stomach to be around him after all the hell he put her through." Mira intoned, interrupting Laxus' musings about eye lasers- if only a glare could kill.

"What are you talking about? Cana always talks about him like he's the second more sleazy coming of Jesus." Laxus said, never liking the way she always painted him as some kind of hero.

"Yeah, well, that's crap." Mira said bluntly, aggressively cleaning a mug despite it already being clean. "She has a habit of covering up stuff… that's why I was so worried that morning when I saw you at her place after she got hammered…" Mira explained, guiltily avoiding eye contact as a way of apology.

"So what is she covering up for that sleaze bag?" Laxus asked, getting a look of approval from Mira for his equal disdain of Hibiki.

"He's a sleaze bag alright. He has this on again off again relationship with his business partner Jenny- one minute they'll be getting married and then they won't be speaking, and then they'll be back together or whatever. But when they were off Hibiki started sleeping with Cana, but she made it clear that it could only be when he was single." Mira started to explain but was cut short when Kinana was overwhelmed by an overly handsy patron who Mira quickly shut down. She returned and continued speaking but kept a more watchful eye on the young barmaid.

"That was fine, but then Jenny slept with one of Hibiki's friends when they weren't together, so to get back at her, he got back together with her then slept with Cana. She didn't know about any of that and when Jenny found out she stormed into Cana's office and made a colossal scene, calling Cana every name under the sun. But to make it worse it got picked up by some small financial journal and then it spread and caused a massive scandal." Mira said, handing Laxus a coke the way he liked it- she must have remembered from all the times Cana had ordered it for him.

"Hibiki's firm has a big PR department so they were able to calm things down, but at one point there were calls for Cana to resign." Mira said, eyes wide and serious.

"So what if she slept with a guy that had a girlfriend, surely that wouldn't be that big of a professional problem." Laxus said, not understanding how it could have become such a big issue.

"You would think so but because they both had such high positions there were accusations that they were doing insider trading even though there was nothing behind it…" Mira explained, her glare becoming more pointed.

"Then why is she still friends with him?" he asked, genuinely baffled. If a woman had used him like that and then nearly cost him his profession, there is no way in hell he'd be grinding up against her on the dance floor.

"Because she needs his help…" Mira said with a sigh.

"But why would he keep in contact with her if the allegations were so serious? Wouldn't he want to distance himself from her?" Laxus asked, there was something missing in this story.

"Personally, I think it's because he knows that she's going to be his boss one day, and maybe a bit of him is still in love with her because of that." Mira said cryptically.

"What are you talking about?" Laxus asked, Cana and Hibiki were in two totally different companies and she enjoyed being her own boss, as well as having employees way too much to join his firm. He watched Mira's face for an answer, ignoring the voice in his ear about a drunk girl at the bar but got nothing but pursed lips.

"Cana is the best at what she does, and I think Hibiki realises what that means. He's good but he can never be as good as she is, and eventually she's going to get serious, and when that happens she'll overtake him." She said haltingly, thinking carefully about each sentence.

Before he could clarify more Cana was at the bar, leaning forward to give Mira an order. She quickly prepared the drinks and Cana hurried back to Hibiki who took a genuine gulp this time. Laxus thought about how important her job must be to her that she would go through all that and still remain friends with him, just to keep a professional relationship. He knew he wouldn't do it. The only way it meant sense to him was if she still had some kind of feelings for him, but Laxus found himself hoping that wasn't true. He told himself that it was for her sake, he didn't want his friend caught in that situation but was the truth something different all together?

OOO

Laxus glared heatedly as Hibiki wound his arms around Cana's waist and drew her closer, their chests pushed together.

"Hibiki…" Cana began to warn. There was a limit to her good will, dancing is one thing but he was pushing the limits and he knew it.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to try anything. You made yourself perfectly clear last time." Hibiki reassured her, but still didn't let go.

"You didn't tell me you were dating the bouncer." Hibiki chided, swaying them to the music. Cana scowled, glad both Hibiki and Laxus couldn't see it, she'd hate it if Laxus came over and made a scene, which he had done on several occasions.

"That's because I'm not." Cana replied forcefully.

"Huh." Hibiki breathed in surprise. "Then why has he been glaring at me all night?" he asked, once again a loaded question, he was really asking what their relationship was and whether she had told him about what Hibiki referred to as 'the fiasco'.

"I have no idea, maybe you're charm isn't as good as it used to be." She teased playfully, but she knew he received the message- drop it. In some ways she hated that Hibiki always spoke in code even though they both knew exactly what the other was saying, but it also allowed her a reprieve from the brutal honesty of Bacchus.

"Very funny." Hibiki chided sarcastically, unimpressed. "I wonder if he glares like that when you dance with Bacchus." Hibiki pondered with a bitter laugh.

"He hasn't met Bacchus yet." Cana said reluctantly, becoming uneasy at the turn of their power play.

"Now that I would pay to see."

OOO

Laxus withheld a sigh of relief as Hibiki made his way out the door, alone, without Cana, who slowly strolled over towards him, a concerned look on her face.

"What's up?" Laxus asked, guessing that Hibiki had given her some bad news. Cana looked startled, and began nervously shuffling.

"The ceiling." Cana replied, usually it would be accompanied with a grin and a swagger and he would know she was fine but this time her tense tone made him even more worried. He reached out a hand to grasp her arm but she jerked away, instantly regretting it. Laxus' brow creased, unsure what he did wrong and completely unaware of how to fix it. She was a bit off at the start of the night but she had never pulled away from him like that before.

"Is everything ok?" he asked tentatively, wanting to rush forward but consciously keeping his space.

"Yeah… I'm sorry for… pulling away like that…" she mumbled, looking first at his eyes and then at her feet.

"It's fine." Laxus replied, still slightly confused but wanting to put it behind them. He had been hoping that they could hang out at her place for a while like they usually did when she spent most of the night away from the bar but with this strange vibe between them it didn't look like that was going to happen. He couldn't help but feel disappointed in missing his time with her, especially to a creep like Hibiki.

"Look, I'll head home with Mira tonight…" Cana said, avoiding his eye. Not once had she ever refused to let him walk her home like this. The shock of rejection cut him deep, followed by irritation. What could Hibiki have said to her that would make Cana say something like that?

"Well seeing as I'm getting paid to walk to your building I guess I'll just have to go without you- I am a professional you know." Laxus said with a smirk, pushing down everything complicated so he could go back to that place when they were just two buddies who hung out each night, and then maybe whatever was wrong would fix itself. To his pleasure Cana looked up in surprise and then rolled her eyes, body relaxing from its previous unnaturally tense state.

"Are you serious?" Cana asked, hips tilting in the familiar way.

"Of course, plus my trainer says I need to work out more, apparently I've been eating too much junk food and not getting enough sleep so the walk would do me good." He said, walking past her towards the door.

"Are you coming or what?" he asked, calling over his shoulder as he passed out the door and with a grin as she often did, she chased after him.

"Damn your long legs." She snapped, panting slightly until he slowed down to her pace.

"My ex-girlfriend said they were my best feature!" Laxus said in mock contempt.

"Really?" Cana asked with her eye-brow raised in question.

"No, but I've always wanted to say that." Laxus said with a chuckle which became infectious and Cana was glad that Laxus hadn't let her go home with Hibiki's words still in her mind. Laxus didn't like her romantically, they were just friends. And sure Bacchus could be a bit hard to handle but there was no way that Laxus would hate him.

"And just so you know, you're buying me pizza." Laxus informed her with a smirk.

"One, why do _I_ have to buy _you_ pizza? And I thought your trainer said that you eat too much junk food." She rebuked despite not really minding paying, but she would hate to be seen as a push over.

"Because of you I had to put up with that douchebag all night-" before he could continue Cana cut him off.

"You don't even know Hibiki! He's not that bad of a guy!" Cana retorted, half hoping to hear the real reason Laxus was glaring at him all night, but unfortunately Laxus himself didn't really know.

"Cana, that guy's shirt is worth more than my car." He said, glancing at her to impress his point. "Not to mention he was being an ass on purpose!"

"How was he being an ass?!" Cana snapped, Hibiki hadn't even spoken to Laxus the whole night.

"Lots of ways!" Laxus snapped, but it sounded weak to his own ears. He didn't want to recount how Hibiki made eye contact with him every time he and Cana got a little two close, or how he smirked in a way Cana wouldn't see when he spoke into her ear. Laxus knew Hibiki was trying to make him jealous, it was plainly obvious. The only question he couldn't answer was why it annoyed him so much. Cana sighed in exasperation dramatically.

"Anyway, my trainer did say that but I told him 'You don't understand man, I've got this cool friend that I hang out with every night but she doesn't have any food at her pad so we always end up ordering pizza.'" He replied, grinning as he watched her frustrated pursed lips turn into a grin.

"I do so have food at my house!" Cana replied, flicking her head slightly so her chin stuck out more than before.

"Left over pizza doesn't count." Laxus intoned to which she gave a defeated sigh.

"Fine, but you have to order."

"Don't I always?"

OOO

Cana shoved the last of the pizza into what she now dubbed the left over pizza box as Laxus collected his things from around her living room. She heard him walk towards the door but called out to him just before his hand touched the handle.

"Oh, I umm might not be in tonight or tomorrow depending on what Bacchus wants to do but I'll definitely be back on Monday." Cana said, "I'll text you." She said with a smile that Laxus didn't return as he left.

Four whole days without hanging out with Cana. One night was hard enough and she was in the same room as him.

And Bacchus would be back. Would he be coming to the club? What would he be like? What would she be like when she's with him?

Why won't this ache in his gut go away?


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: OK so this chapter is a bit rushed, I really just wanted to get more plot out there. This is the first part of a two part chapter. Next chapter will be completely Bacchus vs Laxus at the bar. In this chapter Bacchus and Cana sleep together but I want to make clear that from Cana's point of view they are purely friends with benefits and she has no intention of crossing the line into romance again. This is not Baccana. What Bacchus feels is a bit more complicated. Thankyou sabarrineau and darkitty04 for your support, I hope you guys like this latest installment

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Day 35 pt1

Like most Firday mornings, Laxus pulled into his sisters' school and slowed the car to a halt. He looked back over his shoulder to smile at the two girls, one with bright blue hair, the other pale white as they sung there usual chorus of farewells.

"Have a good day!" he replied in his usual cheery tone when adressing the two. And in keeping with tradition, they didn't see his smile turn into a scowl as Wendy hugged Romeo who grinned widely in a similarly idiodic way to Cana when she got what she wanted. This of course was followed by the aptly named Happy trailing after Charle as she ignored his constant yammering about gifts of fish.

It was strange for him to think about Cana away from work like this, but now that it started he found it difficult to stop. He was going to have to make it through the whole night of drunken idiots without his favourite drunken idiot to keep him entertained. He wondered why he even agreed to take this job in the first place. Sure staying in one place for a while was great, he got to see more of his family, got to find out which take out he liked best and managed to stay in contact with people who weren't Freed, Bixlow and Ever. He had met some great people on the road, really decent people, but the truth is when you move you nearly always lose touch and then it's too hard to restart that conversation- how have you been for the last six months? Me? I've been good, just working. But being a club bouncer truly was monotonous. Maybe he thought the 'hottest spot in sydney' would be a fun place to be? Or maybe he liked the idea of no tolerance on drugs? He hated catching some creep trying to spike drinks and then having to just push him out the door as owners preferred not to make a scene. Or maybe he just wanted some monotony for a while.

Whatever the reason, he was now filled with dread at the boring nights to come and was about to give a frustrated sigh when his phone started ringing. He quickly checked the display and saw a rooster (most likely Cana's doing, he really needs to keep better track of his phone when he's at her place) above the name Guildarts Clive. He quickly answered, raising the phone to his ear.

"Dreyar?" the familiar voice asked.

"Yeah." He replied, not sure exactly why the man had called him of all people.

"I'd like to have a progress meeting before opening tonight, are you free this afternoon?" he asked, which was even more strange. Requests like this usually came through his manager, which Clive would have known but obviously didn't care.

"Is something wrong?" he asked tentatively, not quite reassured by the loud chuckle on the other end of the line.

"No, no. Nothing like that. I just like to touch base with my employees every once in a while- keeps things personal." He explained but this also sounded a bit off- the small amount of instructino he got from the man was on the importance of impersonal professionalism. While he had pretty much failed when it came to Cana, he was slightly proud that he had managed as well as he had with the gargantuan task.

"Sure, I can come around about an hour before opening?" Laxus replied, suspicious but unable to think of a plausible out that would relinquish the threat of 'catch ups' in the immediate future.

"Sounds good, see you then." Clive concluded and promptly hung up. Laxus would have preferred to ruminate on the call further but a quick look at the clock made him realise how late he was for picking up his grandfather to go to his weekly 'doctors appointment' already.

"Shit…"

OOO

Cana grinned wide and bright in expectation as she bounced on her feet, standing in front of Bacchus' front door. Excitedly she knocked on the door despite having a key and waited impatiently for a slightly haggard Bacchus to open the door. With a squeel Cana lauched herself, toppling him backwards onto the floor as her arms wove around his chest in a vice like grip.

"Gah!" Bacchus exclaimed as he floundered on the floor, Cana's weight crushing him. With a final soul crushing squeeze Cana let go of the black haired man and stumbled to her feet, to which he followed suit, turning to close the door. When he turned back to face her he was greeted to a rather painful punch to the gut, winding him. He glared at her in shock, clutching his stomach.

"That was for ditching me with this whole mess." Cana said over her shoulder as she walked into his familiar living room, sidestepping his half unpacked bags and threw herself down on his designer couch. The white leather felt good to her touch as she smirked up at her still grimacing friend.

"That was a dick move doll face…" Bacchus groaned, still clutching his stomach as he lowered himself beside her. Cana rolled her eyes but didn't comment, swielling on the couch to face him directly, crossing her legs under her.

"Soooooooooooooooooooo- how was everyone?!" Cana asked, gently pushing him on the shoulder to turn him to her. Now it was Bacchus' turn to roll his eyes.

"The same as always- buy us a pool. Where's Cana? Why haven't ya married Cana yet? Where are my grandbabies?" Bacchus said in his usual drunken drawl,grinning at Cana's laugh. "Maria made me promise that I'd bring you with me next time or she'd cut my hair off in my sleep- demon child." Bacchus said with false ire about his beloved neice.

"You'll have to show me all the photos!" Cana said, gleefully accepting a usb drive he passed from the coffee talbe in front of them.

"Maria dumped a stack of crap on there for ya." Bacchus explained, raising his flask to his lips that had been sitting at his hip like usual.

"God I love that kid!" Cana exclaimed, searching the room with her gaze for his laptop but couldn't find it. Bacchus scoffed at her comment and sensing her search reached out for his lap top which was sitting haphazardly underneath the coffee table to stop him from standing on it by accident.

"That kid is a giant pain in the ass." Bacchus said, plopping the blue lap top in her lap as she playfully glared at him. "She lost her shit if I didn't let her sleep in the same bed as me- for the whole month- It gave me blue balls so bad." Bacchus said, leaning in to playfully nibble Cana's neck which temporarily distracted her from the pictures on the screen as it hit her she hadn't been with anyone for the past month either due to Laxus' watchful eye and rather apt distractions. She began to lean into his mouth before the smile with small square gaps snapped her back to reality.

"I haven't slept with anyone either drama queen." Cana retorted, placing a firm hand on his chest pushing him away to a safe distance. Bacchus raised a skeptical eye brow, his body tense and ready to dive back in.

"Yeah right doll," Bacchus dismissed skeptically, his hand now placed on her knee, his fingers tracing circles on the soft skin of her inner thigh. Cana grabbed his hand and placed it firmly on his own leg before giving an annoyed reply.

"Dad got a new bouncer at the club, and you know what Dad's like." Cana said with frustrated sigh. "If I manage to land someone decent I just end up getting dragged home anyway." Cana said, trying to convey the travesty which was her current sex life. In the good old days of a month ago her tally rivalled Bacchus' always impressive record.

"That's harsh doll…" Bacchus said, once again leaning forward, straining against the pressure of her hand. "I could fix that for you…" he said in a raspy half-whisper, his mouth moving closer and closer until his lips brushed her ear.

"Really wanna do this?" Cana asked, clumsily placing the laptop on the table around Bacchus' quickly engulphing limbs. Rather than a verbal response Bacchus trailed kisses down from her ear towards her collarbone, hand at her knee and slowly sliding up her inner thigh. Cana gave a sigh of defeat which was quickly silenced by Bacchus' mouth on hers. She let go of the last of her resistence sunk into his embrace.

OOO

"What do you wanna do tonight?" Cana asked, clad only in a white towel to Bacchus who was still in the shower, water cascading over his naked body. She stood on the other side of the glass watching as he scrubbed his skin, waiting for a response.

"Somthin' with some booze…" he said before opening his mouth and filling it with water, gargling quietly. Cana shrugged off the towel and walked back into the bedroom and began collecting pieces of clothing that were strewn all over the room, sometimes intertwined with Bacchus'. By the time she had assembled the final piece Bacchus was out of the shower and doing the same.

"Wanna go to Fairy Tail?" Cana asked, passing him his flask belt. He considered the proposition as he threaded his belt through his pant loops. "I think you'll like Laxus, you're a lot alike."' Cana said, picking up his keys and stradling him to slide them into his back pocket, giving his buttocks a squeeze in the process.

"Who's Laxus?" Bacchus asked, returning the squeeze.

"The bouncer."

OOO

"So I hear you've been getting on quite well with Cana." Guildarts probed, arms crossed across his broad chest as he leaned back in his rather grandiouse chair, Laxus sitting before him on the other side of the desk. Laxus took a moment to consider the statement- did Clive fear they were too close? Had one of Cana's pranks finally gone too far?

"I like to think so." He replied evenly, "She hasn't challenged me to a fight in a while." Guildarts chuckled, but the serious glint in his eye didn't dissipate.

"That's good to hear." Guildarts replied, tension shifting slightly. "Look, the real reason I asked you to come in today was to talk about Bacchus." Guildarts said, deep voice rumbling.

"Cana's friend?" Laxus asked despite knowing exactly who he was. The real question was why his return warranted a meeting.

"Yeah." Gildarts replied before continuing. "You see Bacchus isn't a regular exactly, he just shows up with Cana every once in a while. But, he has a habit of causing problems." Guildarts said, uncrossing his arms to pause for a moment before recorssing them, his brow furrowed. "Bacchus isn't good at sharing, especially when it comes to Cana. And Cana has a habit of being overly defensive. So when you put the two of them together things tend to escalate quickly." Guildarts explained. Laxus was actually releived to hear some information about Bacchus that seemed genuine instead of Mira's silence and Cana's hero worship, despite it being slightly worrying.

"So do you want me to remove him if things get out of hand?" Laxus asked, irritated at Guildarts condescending laugh.

"God no! Try to avoid conflict at all costs. Think of him as a very important client." Guildarts explained, and Laxus found himself likeing this new task less and less.

"Understood." Laxus said, but one question was still lurking at the back of his mind. What if they went home together? Was Laxus supposed to interceed? Wouldn't that make an even bigger scene? Laxus nodded his assent and turned to walk out the door. He had his hand on the door knob to close it when Guildarts called out in one final instruction.

"Oh and if Bacchus says he'll walk Cana home then don't worry about it." He said. While Laxus nodded acceptance it still frustrated him. So Bacchus had Guildarts and whoever Cana's father was' approval? From what he'd managed to put together he was a womanising drunk who used his charm to handle customers while Cana ran the real business. And no matter how rediculous the crime was Cana would always make an excuse for him. He hated people like that, who relied on her kindness for their own gain. Before his internal rant could progress much further he felt a buzzing in his pocket from his phone. He fished it out and raised it to eye level. It was a message from Cana saying she would be coming with Bacchus to the bar that night.

So he was finally going to meet Bacchus.

While he intially got swept up in fantasies of seizing up Bacchus and putting him in his place he couldn't quell the overflowing sense of releif.

He wasn't going to have to spend the night alone.

Cana would be there.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Hey, I tried to get this chapter out asap so I could continue the flow. I re-start uni in a few days so I wont have a lot of time to keep writing but I'll try to get out as much as I can. A big thank you to all the people who gave reviews and those who pm'ed with their support. Shout out to Ash Dragneeel once again- thanks for your support and best of luck with your fics.

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail

Day 35 pt 2

There was a strange mood in the air. Like usual Laxus stood in his corner, running through instructions with his team and Mira stocked the bar, but there was a tenseness between them. Laxus' first instinct was to ask Mira for reassurance, surely Bacchus' return wouldn't be as big a catastrophe as Gildarts interference generally dictated. But the knowledge that she would either remain silent on the matter or confirm his fears stopped him from speaking out. He remained in relative silence as set up finished and people began to peter in, still no Cana in sight. The minutes dragged on slowly with his team needing minimum oversight, now comfortable in their respective roles. Time crawled along achingly slow and he fought the urge to text. But as it came up to an hour past opening Laxus fished his phone out of his pocket, pausing as his thumb pressed against the screen, still debating whether or not to call. Thankfully, just at that moment Cana burst through the crowd, her frustrated glare aimed at the party goers she pushed through which turned into a bright grin as she locked eyes with Laxus. He grinned back out of reflex but it soon faded away when he noticed the muscular black haired man she was tugging along by the hand. She whipped her head back towards him to snap something before turning back to keep her eyes locked on Laxus, pushing through the people with a more determined force. Within moments she was before him, panting slightly as she dropped the other man's hand, placing her hands on her hips as she faced him.

"I'm sorry we're late, it's a long story." She said, grinning despite the exasperation in her tone. Before Laxus could formulate a reply he was cut off by the man he assumed was Bacchus.

"Booze!" he yelled towards Mira who was standing at the opposite end of the bar, slapping the bench with a resounding thud. Mira glared at him in distaste but nonetheless began making two glasses of Cana's signature concoction of toxic spirits. She handed them to Kinnana who nervously brought them down to the pair. Bacchus leered at the young woman, leaning forward over the bar to get uncomfortably close.

"Hello doll…" he smirked, eyes raking over her. Kinnana blushed a dark red and quickly put the glasses on the bench before retreating down to where Mira was serving customers. Laxus usually would have pulled the man from the bar and sent him on his way but he heeded Guildarts warning to avoid confrontation. Cana kicked Bacchus painfully in the shin which forced him to fling himself down from the bar and clutch at his leg.

"Bitch!" he hissed, his glare not letting up. Laxus smirked in satisfaction but the feeling didn't last long.

"Stop being a dick! We just fucking got here and Mira already wants to split your head open." Cana snapped, hair swaying as she shook her head in small sharp movements. "If you keep this shit up we'll have to leave." She snapped, pausing for a moment to see if he would try to argue, which to her satisfaction. Laxus' stomach sank, she just arrived and she was already thinking about leaving- with him! Laxus patiently waited for her attention to return, as she and Bacchus downed their entire glass to receive another which they drank in an identical fashion. On their third Cana once again caught his eye, turning to walk towards him when Bacchus' hand at her wrist stopped her. He quickly skulled his latest drink and then nodded his head in the direction of the dance floor.

"You go, I'll be out in a bit." Cana assured him, giving up on the idea of introducing him to Laxus for the meantime. Bacchus grabbed her other wrist and began to pull her out towards the dancefloor with a drunken smirk. "Later- you go!" Cana said, gently breaking free of his grasp, making sure he was heading out towards the floor before making her way to Laxus.

"Hey," she said apologetically, an embarrassed expression on her face, which Laxus thought was strange on such a confident woman.

"Hey." He replied. Rather than acknowledge the elephant in the room he pulled over the 'cana stool' and smoothly lifted her on to it. She smiled in relief, winding an arm around the back of his shoulders and leaning against him.

He pretended to look out into the crowd but they both knew his eyes were glued to Bacchus, dancing with both women and men, a kiss here, a grope there, it looked as natural to him as it did to Cana. But unlike Cana his hands were constantly seeking out drinks, and when one wasn't being offered his fingers always found their way to his hip flask.

"You know, yesterday I was genuinely excited to introduce him to you." Cana said, her words not meant to inspire comment but thought. "I thought that you two would get on really well because you're so similar." She continued and Laxus fought back grinding his teeth at the idea of being compared to that oaf. "But by now, you probably think he's a total asshole." Cana concluded, staring at the side profile of his face, her stare intensifying when he refused to meet her eye.

"You worry too much." Was all he said, reaching up to wrap his arm around her waist and squeeze gently before letting it drop in a make-shift hug. Cana felt butterflies in her stomach at the gesture, not sure why something so relatively small meant so much to her. She continued to watch his face, considering to lean in and peck his check like she had done once weeks earlier. Not sure if he would put up resistance or embrace the moment. If she did, was that significant? Did she want it to be something more than it was? But all these questions were left unanswered as Laxus noticed Bacchus heading back towards the bar.

"You better go… if he tries to hit on Kinnana again I think Mira will rip his head off." He said, nodding towards Bacchus. Cana gave a defeated sigh and hopped off the stool. She started to walk away but froze for a moment in thought and before Laxus knew what was happening she spun back and wrapped her arms around his waist in a tight hug before walking back out into the crowd. He was more than a little confused- this wasn't her dramatic affection which was supposed to make him feel uncomfortable, this was genuine. He thought it strange that he had been with many women, but just a simple hug had never made him feel so uncertain before.

His eyes followed her as she downed a large quantity of booze even for her which was equalled if not exceeded by Bacchus who dragged her out onto the floor. Laxus thought he saw her stumble a couple times which despite the alcohol was very unlike her, no matter how much she had drunk. His instincts were telling him to walk down there and pull her out, but Guildarts message played in his head. He looked towards Mira who was looking straight at him with a worried stare. How long had she been looking at him? At first he was embarrassed that he had let himself be so obvious but then he realised that Mira was genuinely worried too. Mira knew Cana better than anyone he knew, and if she was that worried then something was definitely up.

But, despite Cana getting steadily drunker, Mira kept passing her drinks and Laxus kept his distance. Song after song, hour after hour and Cana stayed right next to Bacchus. While she sometimes danced with others, he was always within arms reach, there in a moments notice when someone got too frisky or she wanted another sip of his flask. Cana drank and buried herself in the intoxicating atmosphere of Bacchus to distract herself from that feeling she got from Laxus. The more she thought about it, and what it might mean the more she dreaded it. What they had now was perfect, and she had sworn off dating bouncers. That feeling, and all it's complexities was too much for her to bear. So she chose to feel nothing but the burn of the booze in her throat and the sway of his body next to hers. No feelings, just movement.

But as the night came to a close, she found herself craving that private time she enjoyed as they walked to her home together. She wanted to curl up on her couch next to him and watch bad tv, or maybe a movie. She'd call in sick tomorrow- Bacchus could deal with it. Right now, despite the ball of panic in her stomach and the sway of the booze taking over her body, she wanted to spend time with him in a way she didn't crave Bacchus. While she missed him, as his arms wound around her waist she felt nothing like the haphazard hug had shot her with.

"Your place or mine?" he mumbled into her ear. She turned in his arms to face him, placing his face between her hands.

"Both- you go to yours and I'll go to mine." Cana said, ignoring his groan of annoyance and attempts to angle himself closer to her. She slid her hands down to sit firmly on his chest, pushing slightly to break his grip on her waist.

"Elfman and Me will come pick you up tomorrow and you better be ready or I swear I'll set you on fire again!" Cana threatened, finally breaking free and moving away towards Mira and Laxus, not checking to see if he left because she knew it would only encourage him.

"Ready to go?" she asked Laxus who seemed surprised at the question.

"Yeah." He replied, sliding into his jacket. He thought by the way Bacchus was holding her that she was coming to say goodbye, but the surprise was a pleasant one. They walked outside and turned down familiar streets and there was no sign of Bacchus. Laxus half expected him to pop up but Cana knew better, he was probably with some random person he'd picked up and they were already in the bedroom by now.

"So which movie do you wanna watch tonight?" Cana asked, swaying on her feet a little more than Laxus liked, he moved closer to her, his arm resting against hers to steady her.

"It's a bit late, don't you have work tomorrow?" Laxus asked. While Cana often stayed up late with him, she knew her limits and when she needed sleep- there was nothing she took more seriously than her work.

"Yeah but I don't really feel like going in, Bacchus can deal with it. The whole day was just going to be briefings anyway and I don't really need to be there for that." Cana said, not happy that she lied to Bacchus about her intent to go but she knew he wouldn't go unless he thought she was. "And I don't really feel like going to sleep right now."

"Oh ok… how about… star trek?" Laxus asked, remembering Cana's extensive Star Trek collection that she vowed she would show him piece by piece. Cana considered it for a moment but then nodded in consent.

"Why…" he began to ask but decided not to finish the question. But unfortunately Cana wouldn't let it drop.

"Why what?" she asked, eyes glued to his face like they were more and more often. Laxus tried to think of a way out but it was too late and too cold for him create one so he just blurted out the question and hoped for the best.

"Why didn't you ask Bacchus to come over?" Laxus asked, which was a valid question. This whole time she had been complaining about how much she wanted him to come back for one reason or another and now that he was, it was like she was avoiding him. Cana was surprised at the question and took a moment to consider how honest she wanted to be. But in trying to mute her feelings she had drunk so much that her filter was all but disintegrated.

"There are a bunch of reasons, but I guess the main one is that if I invited him over it wouldn't end in a movie and I'd rather hang out with you and chill out with sour worms and Nutella and that god awful pizza you like then play drunk sexual gymnastics and have to go to work in the morning." She explained in a slow drunken droll. In the dark he couldn't see her beet red cheeks, or if he did he brushed it off on the booze and the cold.

"I once sprained my neck, my shoulder and my ankle during drunken sexual gymnastics- it's a bloody dangerous sport. I still think it should be in the Olympics." Laxus said to lighten the mood, grinning as he watched Cana pause as she processed what he said and then began to laugh hysterically.

"You know, you're a lot funnier than you look." Cana said between bursts of laughter.

"And what exactly do I look like?" Laxus asked in mock offense. Cana once again took time to mull it over.

"The terminator." She said, laughing even harder at her own joke.

"I'll take that as a compliment." He replied, taking her up the stairs and into the elevator.

Soon they were in her apartment, old pizza on their laps, a bottle of coke on the coffee table and their legs interwined as they huddled in front of her small but effective heater, the movie playing on the tv.

And everything was where it was supposed to be.


End file.
